Security service provider Wiz beats out Google's 23 billion offer

Google, or rather its parent company Alphabet, has offered 23 billion US dollars for Wiz, but the cybersecurity start-up has turned it down. In a letter to its 1,200 employees, Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport writes that it would be difficult to say no to such an offer, but "with our exceptional team, I can make this decision with confidence".

The letter to the "Wizards" - that is the address in it - is available to the portal TechCrunch. It mentions a target of one billion ARR (annual revenue) and the company's IPO. The offer from Alphabet strengthens the company in what they are doing. "We are grateful for the trust our employees, investors and customers have placed in us as we build the best cybersecurity company in the world." The letter concludes with the acronym LFG - which stands for Let's fucking Go.

Google invests in cloud security

Many media outlets had already assumed that the takeover was a foregone conclusion. It would have been the biggest takeover in Google's history. Google is increasing its efforts in the area of cloud computing. Wiz offers cybersecurity software for precisely this purpose. Wiz was founded in 2020. The founders had previously founded another start-up in the same field, sold it to Microsoft in 2015 and worked there for a few years before setting up their own business again.

The software does not work without artificial intelligence. It is designed to detect and prevent threats in real time. It is already being used by companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Apart from the fact that the founders are quite liquid due to the earlier sale, the usual well-known venture capitalists from Silicon Valley are also investing in the company, which was once based in Israel and now has its headquarters in New York.

Two years ago, Google acquired the US cyber security company Mandiant for almost 5.4 billion US dollars- the second largest company acquisition in Google's history.

(emw)