Google is considering acquiring Wiz, a cloud cybersecurity startup that works with industry giants such as Amazon and Oracle, for up to $23 billion, The Verge reported.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this would be nearly double the price of its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility and would be Google’s largest acquisition of another company ever.
Wiz, a New York City-based company, says it offers “siloed security tools and scanners” for the corporate sector.
Wiz writes that it protects enterprise cloud infrastructure “by creating a normalising layer between cloud environments,” letting businesses “rapidly identify and remove critical risks.”
Such an acquisition would appear to be specifically targeted at Microsoft, which has weathered several recent high-profile security breaches and is increasingly vulnerable.
According to the New York Times, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian was the driving force behind the acquisition plans.
If successful, this could cement Google’s reputation as a secure cloud platform.
This appears to be the idea behind Google’s $500 million acquisition of another cloud security startup in 2022, as well as its $5.4 billion purchase of Mandiant, the company responsible for the SolarWinds hack that came to light later that year.
The Times said the deal “looks likely” but could fail and risks scrutiny from U.S. regulators.
The Biden administration has led major antitrust cases, including the Justice Department’s case over Google’s search deal with Apple and the Federal Trade Commission’s failed attempt to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision.