Google Alphabet’s mother company is again in advanced talks to acquire the Cybersecurity Startup Cloud Wiz, a person familiar with the agreement told Techcrunch. The two companies were about to conclude an agreement for an assessment of $ 23 billion last summer, but the transaction failed to materialize.
This time, the price discussed is higher, said the person. A price of approximately $ 30 billion was declared by The Wall Street Journal.
Thomas Kurian, head of the Google cloud division, again directs the effort.
Google Cloud considers Wiz Cloud Safety products as a good adjustment for its customers, and the annual Wiz (ARR) recurring income is also attractive. This amounted to $ 500 million last July, with plans to reach $ 1 billion in 2025, Techcrunch reported at that time.
Even again, $ 30 billion would probably be quite the premium price. WIZ closed its latest $ 1 billion external financing cycle to an assessment of $ 12 billion last May. Its evaluation would have jumped at $ 16 billion in a tender offer at the end of last year.
Although Wiz said he did not intend to regain public in 2025, he hired Fazal Merchant, a former DreamWorks and Tanium executive as a financial director. Sometimes the hiring of a CFO is a sign to prepare books for a public offer.
According to the Wall Street Journal Wall Street,
A high regulatory examination for important transactions during the Biden administration also contributed to the rupture of the agreement last summer, the person familiar with the agreement said.
Other investors told Techcrunch that they saw an increase in the activity of mergers and acquisitions. In most cases, the return to the negotiation table is correlated with the hope that the president of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, will be less restrictive on the important transactions than the former president Lina Khan, said a person familiar with a handful of these negotiations.
WIZ based in New York and Israel was founded in 2020 by four former Israeli military officers who previously co -founded a Cloud cybersecurity company called Adallom that Microsoft then acquired for $ 320 million.
Wiz donors include Andreessen Horowitz, Cyberstarts, Index Ventures, Greenoaks, Insight Partners and Sequoia.
A Wiz spokesperson refused to comment on the conversations of the agreement.
