Uncle Sam lets Google take Wiz for $32B
Summary
The US Department of Justice has cleared Google’s proposed $32 billion all-cash acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz, marking what would be Google’s largest-ever deal. Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport confirmed the DoJ clearance as an important milestone but stressed there is more work to do before closing, with other jurisdictions — including the UK, EU and Japan — still needing to sign off.
Google plans to fold Wiz into Google Cloud. Wiz offers a unified multicloud security platform that connects to customer environments via APIs to inventory assets across clouds, containers, serverless and storage, map relationships between elements, and match findings to threat intelligence for visibility across complex cloud estates. Google says Wiz’s capabilities complement its existing security products, such as Mandiant and Threat Intelligence, by extending multicloud visibility.
This is Google’s second attempt to buy Wiz: a $23 billion bid in 2024 was rejected when Wiz opted to pursue an IPO, but the company did not file for flotation and the offer this year was substantially increased to $32 billion.
Key Points
- The DoJ has cleared Google’s $32bn acquisition of Wiz — a major antitrust milestone but not the final approval required.
- Wiz provides API-driven, full-stack multicloud security visibility across clouds, serverless, containers and storage.
- Google intends to integrate Wiz into Google Cloud; it sees Wiz as complementary to existing offerings like Mandiant and Threat Intelligence.
- Other regulators (UK, EU, Japan and others) will review the deal for competition concerns because both companies operate globally.
- Google previously tried to buy Wiz for $23bn in 2024; Wiz rebuffed that offer and planned an IPO but ultimately did not go public.
- Market implications include further consolidation in cloud security and potential competitive pressure on rivals such as Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks.
Context and Relevance
This deal matters for CISOs, cloud architects and security vendors because it reshapes who controls key multicloud visibility tooling. Wiz’s platform helps organisations map risk across complex, hybrid cloud estates — a capability many enterprises prize as cloud environments fragment. Regulatory scrutiny so far focused on whether folding Wiz into Google Cloud would reduce choice or unfairly advantage Google; the DoJ clearance suggests US regulators are not blocking the transaction, but the global review remains decisive for the deal’s completion.
For the wider industry, a Google-owned Wiz could accelerate integrated cloud-security offerings, spur bundling with other cloud services, and prompt competitors to respond with M&A or product consolidation. Organisations should watch integration plans, pricing and data-handling commitments closely if they use Wiz or competing tools.
Author style
Punchy: This is big. A $32bn cloud-security takeover by Google is not just corporate theatre — it could alter vendor dynamics across multicloud security. If you work in cloud security, ops or procurement, the downstream effects on choice, tooling and vendor negotiations could be substantial. Read the detail if this impacts your stack.
Why should I read this?
Look — if you care about cloud security tools, vendor lock-in or how regulators handle tech consolidation, this one’s worth five minutes. It explains why Google wants Wiz, what Wiz actually does, and why other countries’ regulators still matter.