Wiz has abandoned a $23 billion deal with Google that would have been the search giant’s largest-ever acquisition. CEO Assaf Rappaport told employees the company will instead pursue an initial public offering (IPO) as originally planned.
Rappaport wrote in a memo to employees, “Saying no to such humbling offers is tough.” A person familiar with Wiz’s thinking cited antitrust and investor concerns as part of the reason for abandoning the potential deal. The company had been eyeing an IPO and $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
Wiz was founded in 2020 and has grown rapidly under Rappaport, who had been targeting an IPO as recently as May. The company hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months, and reached $350 million last year.
Wiz’s cloud security products include prevention, active detection, and response, a portfolio that has appealed to large firms and would have helped Google compete with Microsoft. Alphabet’s cloud segment has faced increased competition from frontrunners Microsoft and Amazon.
Google didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The collapse of the transaction will be seen as a disappointment by Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia, and other venture backers that have raised multibillion-dollar funds in recent years.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/23/google-wiz-deal-dead.html