By Krystal Hu and Zaheer Kachwala
(Reuters) -Google-parent Alphabet is in advanced negotiations to buy Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz with an offer of more than $30 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter, marking its largest potential acquisition to date.
Alphabet’s latest offer is higher by roughly a third of the $23 billion deal it offered last year, which Wiz called off in July 2024 over concerns it would not clear antitrust hurdles.
Wiz had said in an internal memo at the time that it would focus on an initial public offering. Neither company has publicly acknowledged a deal. They did not immediately reply on Monday to Reuters requests for comment.
The deal hasn’t been signed and could still change, the person familiar with the development said. The Wall Street Journal on Monday first reported the news of the talks between the companies, citing sources.
If the Wiz acquisition goes ahead, it would help Alphabet tap the cybersecurity market and expand its booming cloud infrastructure business, which generated more than $43 billion in revenue last year.
While U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is widely expected to drop some antitrust policies pursued under the administration of President Joe Biden, a deal that creates a cybersecurity behemoth is still likely to draw scrutiny.
Wall Street had expected a bump in dealmaking after Trump’s election, but the tariffs he has imposed or threatened have roiled global markets and left businesses and investors uncertain about big decisions.
Wiz provides cloud-based cybersecurity solutions powered by artificial intelligence that help companies identify and remove critical risks on cloud platforms.
It works with multiple cloud providers such as Microsoft and Amazon and counts companies from Morgan Stanley to DocuSign among its customers. With 900 employees across the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel, Wiz previously said it planned to add 400 workers globally in 2024.
Interest in the cybersecurity industry has surged since the global CrowdStrike outage last year, making enterprises more concerned about protecting their digital infrastructures.
Wiz was last valued at $12 billion in a private funding round in May 2024.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu; Editing by Pooja Desai and Sayantani Ghosh)
