European competition regulators will decide by Feb. 10 whether to allow the company’s $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity provider Wiz, according to a filing on the European Commission (EC) website.
Google announced the deal in March, calling it an investment by its Cloud unit to “accelerate two large and growing trends in the AI era: improved cloud security and the ability to use multiple clouds.”
The EC’s filing was flagged in a report by Reuters Thursday (Jan. 8), which notes that tech deals in Europe have in recent years undergone strict scrutiny from regulators, who are worried that the world’s tech giants may use them to further increase their market power.
The commission, which enforces antitrust regulations for the European Union, can either approve the deal with or without seeking concessions from Google, or can launch a full-scale probe if it finds serious concerns. The U.S. Department of Justice gave its blessing to the merger in November.
Google had looked into acquiring Wiz in 2024, with the smaller company ultimately rejecting the tech giant’s $23 billion offer.
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Google’s pursuit of Wiz “serves as an exclamation point on how the landscape of cloud security is continually evolving,” with several key trends guiding its future, as PYMNTS wrote last year.
“One of the biggest strides being made is the embrace of AI and machine learning (ML) as integral to cybersecurity strategies, enabling real-time analysis and swift identification of anomalies,” that report said. “These technologies enhance the ability to pre-emptively detect and respond to threats, thereby reducing potential damages.”
The acquisition comes at a time when cybersecurity is paramount, PYMNTS wrote at the time, though that statement holds true nearly a year later.
Days earlier, a supply chain attack had compromised open-source software used by more than 23,000 organizations with credential-stealing code.
“In response to the evolving threat landscape, organizations are increasingly investing in advanced security solutions to safeguard their operations and data,” the report said.
The threats of 2024 snowballed during 2025, as covered here last month, with cyberattacks going from “episodic crises” to “a persistent condition of doing business.”
The situation, PYMNTS added, got to the point that one of the world’s largest cyber insurance firms, Beazley, announced it was scaling back its U.S. cyber business.
