In a groundbreaking announcement on March 19, 2025, American technology giant Google revealed its acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz for a staggering $32 billion, marking the largest purchase in the company's history.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, made the decision to acquire Wiz in a bid to enhance its cloud offerings amid increasing competition in the multi-cloud space. With the cybersecurity landscape continually evolving, Google is positioning Wiz as a 'multi-cloud' solution, ensuring that its services will be available across various platforms and not exclusively tied to Google Cloud.
Wiz has attracted significant attention with an extensive client list, and its annual revenue had surged to $700 million by March 20, 2025. Just prior to the announcement of the acquisition, analysts were predicting that Wiz’s revenue was set to reach $1 billion. This financial growth, combined with adapting services to meet diverse customer needs, makes the acquisition a strategic move for Google.
Prior negotiations between Google and Wiz occurred in the past summer for a lower valuation of $23 billion, which ultimately fell flat. Fears of regulatory scrutiny—particularly concerning antitrust issues—led to the breakdown of those prior talks. As part of the terms of the current agreement, Google has committed to paying Wiz $3.2 billion if regulators halt the acquisition, ensuring the startup's independence should regulatory hurdles arise.
Founded in 2020 by a team from Israel’s elite cyber intelligence unit, Wiz has catered to high-profile clients, including many Fortune 100 companies. The platform specializes in identifying vulnerabilities in cloud environments, fortifying developers' code, and combatting cyber threats. Notably, Wiz employs innovative products such as Wiz Cloud, which identifies security vulnerabilities, Wiz Defend, which mitigates attacks through real-time data collection, and Wiz Code, which detects coding weaknesses directly within development environments.
Google intends to integrate Wiz's offerings within its Google Cloud platform while retaining Wiz's multi-cloud functionality, a component clients heavily favor. As Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian noted, "Multi-cloud technologies are what our clients want. Our focus on multi-cloud solutions ensures that new IT projects i.e., those implemented through Google Cloud, can seamlessly interact with existing infrastructures and allow client flexibility in choosing future service providers.”
This approach highlights a vital shift in the industry's focus as enterprises increasingly streamline operations across multiple cloud providers. The integration of Wiz into Google Cloud fuels speculation about Google’s future position in the cloud technology market, where it currently holds a 12% global share, significantly lagging behind Amazon Web Services (AWS) with 30% and Microsoft Azure with 21%, as per Statista.
Experts have pointed out that Google has struggled to catch up due to competition and the dominance of established players like AWS and Azure. However, Kurian remains optimistic about the acquisition. The CEO emphasized that major enterprises tend to combine data from various sources rather than relying solely on a single cloud vendor, making multi-cloud strategies increasingly significant.
Another major factor contributing to the acquisition is the trend towards increased scrutiny of large tech firms regarding their market dominance. While acquisitions of this scale typically raise red flags among regulators, the growing acceptance of large tech mergers suggests that the regulatory environment may be more favorable now compared to previous years. Experts believe that the ability to leverage Wiz’s multi-cloud capabilities among various platforms might prove beneficial in alleviating regulatory concerns.
As Google looks ahead, the integration of Wiz signifies a commitment to addressing the cyber resilience needs of its clients. Companies are increasingly aware of the importance of robust cybersecurity, especially given the frequency of data breaches and cyber attacks. By offering Wiz's advanced security tools, Google aims to solidify its position as a competitive player in the cloud services market.
This acquisition also follows Google's previous $5.4 billion purchase of cybersecurity provider Mandiant in 2022, demonstrating a consistent strategy of investing heavily in the cybersecurity domain. Analysts are keenly watching the market dynamics as this deal progresses, anticipating how it may play out leading into 2026 when the proposed acquisition plans to obtain regulatory approval.
The stakes are high for both Google and Wiz as they navigate this transformative deal. If successful, the merger could reshape Google's approach to cloud services, ushering in a new era of enhanced security measures and client satisfaction. Time will tell how effectively they can retain existing Wiz clients while attracting new ones amidst this rapidly changing technological landscape.
