KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Google’s potential $23 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz—what would have been its largest deal ever—has ended, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport said in an email to employees that Wiz would instead continue to pursue an initial public offering (IPO), which the report said may happen “within the next few years.”
- Wedbush’s Dan Ives says antitrust scrutiny fears likely led to the potential deal’s collapse, adding that Microsoft may look into a cybersecurity acquisition after last week’s outage.
Google’s potential $23 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz—what would have been its largest deal ever—has ended, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Wiz Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Assaf Rappaport said in an email to employees that Wiz would instead continue to pursue an initial public offering (IPO), the report said.
Rappaport wrote that Wiz intends to reach $1 billion in annual recurring revenue before the IPO, according to the Journal, which said the company is aiming to reach that level within the next year and list “within the next few years.”
Purchase May Have Triggered Antitrust Scrutiny
Google, whose parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is set to report second-quarter earnings after the bell, may have been on antitrust regulators’ radar if it bought Wiz. The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against the company, one in 2020 alleging Google’s dominant position in the internet search market has created barriers to entry and harmed competition, and another in 2023 for “monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products.”
Wedbush Says Google Likely Still Will ‘Double Down’ on Cybersecurity
The collapse of the deal, meanwhile, isn’t likely to mean the end of M&A in the cybersecurity sector. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note Tuesday that “it appears antitrust issues … and investor concerns” contributed to the deal’s collapse, but that Google will likely still “double down” on cybersecurity given the tech firm’s increasing shift to the cloud.
Microsoft (MSFT)Â could also look into an acquisition, Ives said, especially after last Friday’s global outage in the tech giant’s cloud services triggered by CrowdStrike’s (CRWD)Â defective software update has “further highlighted the interconnected nature of cyber security software and the cloud ecosystem.” Amazon (AMZN)Â could also be an acquirer in the sector, his note said.
Alphabet shares were little changed in premarket trading but are up 30% this year.