Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) announced today (March 18) that it has agreed to purchase cybersecurity startup Wiz to reach an all-cash deal of $32 billion. The acquisition is not just the most important acquisition in Google’s history, it is the largest deal to date in 2025, which will bring the first major test to the Trump administration’s handling of mergers and acquisitions and antitrust activities.
The deal, approved by regulators, is expected to close next year, will allow Wiz to join Google Cloud Division to strengthen the department’s cloud security options. Founded in 2020, Wiz specializes in identifying cloud-specific security risks and counts the scope of the likes of Salesforce, Slack, and DocuSign among its customers.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a webcast today that the advent of AI has made all industries more urgent. The executive noted that the new technology “has brought new risks but also new opportunities,” describing Wiz as an “innovative, leading cloud security platform” and noted that it has been used by more than half of the Fortune 100 companies.
Headquartered in New York, Wiz has offices in the United States and Israel and was founded by CEO Assaf Rappaport and a group of former Microsoft (MSFT) employees. Supported by VC Powerhouses like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, the startup has seen amazing growth over the past five years, with a value of $12 billion in May. Last year, it started from Google with a $23 billion acquisition because it believes it was public.
How will the agreement respond to regulatory scrutiny?
Now, the deal is back, with another $9 billion. However, how it will respond to regulatory scrutiny remains to be seen. Google’s purchase will be a major test of President Donald Trump’s antitrust activity, especially given that Google is currently involved in an antitrust investigation into its search business and advertising technology.
In the current administration, Trump’s support for the relaxed regulatory landscape and the growth agenda have been cited by the financial industry as factors that could lead to a surge in trading activity. However, due to economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, partly related to the government’s preference for tariffs. Total spending on M&A activities in January totaled $144 billion, down more than 8% from last year, according to FactSet.
Andrew Ferguson, the new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), appears to have some tough feelings with his predecessor, Lina Khan, but he is also expected to take less mergers and acquisitions. “As “She’s the FTC, the M&A engines were restored after the technology merger and acquisitions in the dark times,” Wedbush Security Analyst said in a client note. ”
If approved, the acquisition could help Google compete with Microsoft and Amazon (AMZN). “It will be the bow and arrow of other Big Tech Stalwarts,” Wedbush said, “this deal “would obviously strengthen Google Cloud’s product and enterprise value proposition.”
To be sure: Google’s acquisition of Wiz will mark an important milestone in the company’s history. The deal far exceeds Google’s largest purchase to date: the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola’s Mobility in 2012.
