Report: Alphabet Close to $32 Billion Acquisition of Wiz

Google parent Alphabet is reportedly close to a deal to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion after a $23 billion deal fell through last summer.

The companies are in advanced talks and could close a deal soon if last-minute problems don’t arise like they did earlier, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday (March 17), citing unnamed sources.

Neither Alphabet nor Wiz immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

An acquisition would bolster Alphabet’s efforts in cloud computing by enabling it to offer Wiz’s enhanced security features, according to the report.

The reported deal would also be Google’s biggest acquisition ever, topping its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility that closed in 2012, per the report.

It was reported in July that the cybersecurity firm rejected a $23 billion acquisition bid by Google and intended to go ahead with its plans for an initial public offering (IPO).

Investor and antitrust concerns contributed to Wiz’s decision to walk away from the deal, CNBC reported at the time.

Wiz was valued at $12 billion after raising $1 billion in a May funding round. The company said at the time that it planned to use the new financing to fuel acquisitions and product and talent development.

The company said in an August blog post that it reached 100 official integrations in the first year after the launch of its Wiz Integration platform. The company said that by enabling independent software vendors (ISVs) to build bi-directional integrations on top of the Wiz API, it could extend the solution to meet the diverse security needs of its customers.

In August, Wiz said it had been authorized by the Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) Program as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA), meaning it could assign CVEs to vulnerabilities and rapidly share disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities with the public.

The company announced during the same month that Wiz for Government achieved FedRAMP Moderate authorization, a distinction that joined its StateRAMP authorization its IL4 in-process status.

“Wiz stands at the brink of all three: cloud, AI and cyber,” Dean Scontras, area vice president, public sector at Wiz, said at the time in a press release. “Wiz provides a single platform to view and contextualize risk across all clouds as well as AI security posture management.”