Google’s attempted acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz for $23 billion has fallen through, marking what would have been the company’s largest purchase. Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport confirmed the decision, stating that the choice to decline the lucrative offer was made to focus on growing Wiz towards achieving $1 billion in annual revenue and preparing for an initial public offering.
This rejection comes at a time when the cybersecurity sector is under scrutiny following a significant outage caused by CrowdStrike, a prominent player in the industry. Analyst Dan Ives from Wedbush noted that concerns regarding investors and antitrust issues likely contributed to the breakdown of negotiations. Google, facing heightened antitrust examination recently, just concluded a trial related to one of two major cases brought by the Department of Justice.
Ives suggested that the failure of the acquisition could have widespread consequences across the technology sector, predicting that Google will intensify efforts to expand its cybersecurity services despite the setback. Furthermore, he indicated that Microsoft, a competitor, might also take steps to enhance its cybersecurity capabilities in the coming months.
The spotlight has recently fallen on Microsoft due to a global IT outage linked to a faulty update of cybersecurity software from CrowdStrike, which impacted businesses, flights, and government functions globally. Despite being regarded as the “gold standard” in cybersecurity, the CrowdStrike incident has highlighted the need for Microsoft to strengthen its cybersecurity measures, especially in light of Google’s unsuccessful acquisition attempt.