Google owner Alphabet is in advanced discussions to buy fast-growing cybersecurity startup Wiz for roughly $23 billion, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.
Discussions between Google and Wiz began after the startup raised $1 billion from venture capital investors earlier this year, the source said.
In March 2022, Alphabet bought cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion as part of its efforts to help companies better address cyber threats and bolster its cloud computing business.
Buying Wiz would be a “shot across the bow” at Microsoft and Amazon, showing that Google is making a “major bet on the cyber security space to complement its flagship offering in the cloud,” Dan Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush, wrote in a note to clients on Monday.
Just last week, AT&T revealed that nearly all of its wireless customers’ call and text records were exposed in a massive breach caused by an “illegal download” on a third-party cloud platform.
If the acquisition gets finalized and closes, it would mark a massive exit for Wiz and its founders — Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica and Roy Reznik.
The original article contains 495 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!