Google revives talks to acquire Wiz at higher valuation

Google’s parent company Alphabet is again in advanced talks to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz, a person familiar with the deal told TechCrunch. The two companies were close to securing a deal at a $23 billion valuation last summer, but the transaction failed to materialize. This time, the price being discussed is higher, the person said. A price of around $30 billion was reported by The Wall Street Journal. Thomas Kurian, head of Google’s cloud division, is again leading the effort. Google Cloud sees Wiz’s cloud security products as a good fit for its customer base, and Wiz’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) is attractive too. This stood at $500 million last July, with plans to hit $1 billion in ARR in 2025, TechCrunch reported at that time. Even still, $30 billion would likely be quite the premium price tag. Wiz closed its last outside funding round of $1 billion at a valuation of $12 billion last May. Its valuation reportedly jumped to $16 billion in an employee tender off ... Read full article.