Google has signed a binding agreement to purchase tech startup Wiz for US$32 billion cash to bolster its cloud security and add multicloud capability to its products and services.
That's because organisations of all sizes - from start-ups and large enterprises to governments and public sector entities - can use Wiz to protect everything they build and run in the cloud.
Multicloud capability is now essential for cybersecurity in the growing AI era and Wiz brings with it a US$700m revenue (which was tipped to soon hit US$1 billion) and cloud security customer base.
The deal - which was rumoured to happen since mid-last year - is seen as a move to start competing with the dominant Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure, which hold a 30% and 21% share of the global cloud market each respectively, according to Statista.
Wiz had last year walked away from a US$23 billion takeover by Google, saying it would pursue an IPO instead - however low capital interest in backing such a large public listing ahead of the U.S. election and now market downturn had quashed those hopes.
“Google Cloud is a leader in cloud infrastructure, with deep AI expertise and a track record of industry-leading security innovation,” Google said.
“Bringing all this to Wiz will help make their solutions even better and more scalable, benefiting customers and partners across all major clouds.”
