Google Closes on Wiz Acquisition

By Paul Steidler: There is significant news today in the antitrust, cybersecurity, and cloud storage realms: Google has completed its major acquisition of Wiz, a leading cloud and #AI security company founded in Israel. The $32 billion acquisition is Google’s largest ever.

There is plenty of competition in the cyber and cloud worlds, and it is refreshing that regulators, including the European Union, did not jam this up. This will encourage more entrepreneurial companies in the US and Israel to make the investments and take the risks that ensure US economic growth and tech leadership.

In today’s news announcement, Google said the combination will “boost the adoption of multicloud security, enhancing companies’ ability to use multiple clouds – further spurring innovation in cloud computing and AI applications.”

Wiz, which was founded just six years ago in 2020, today serves 50 percent of the Fortune 100, including Shell, BMW, Morgan Stanley, Mars, Colgate-Palmolive, and others. Its products will continue to work and be available across all major cloud platforms.

Israel’s tech sector is also becoming increasingly important to the U.S. as a matter of national policy. On January 16, the two countries announced “a new strategic partnership on artificial intelligence, research and critical technologies, underscoring the two allies’ intent to deepen cooperation in fields increasingly seen as central to national security and economic power.”

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