Wiz is pulling the plug on multi-billion dollar acquisition

Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz is no longer talking to Google’s parent company Alphabet on an alleged 23 billion dollar acquisition deal.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Alphabet and Wiz were in advanced talks to acquire the Israeli startup company. Sources told the news outlet Google’s parent company was willing to pay 23 billion dollar, the highest amount Alphabet has ever paid for an acquisition.

The deal wasn’t officially confirmed by either party, but was said to be finalized ‘very soon’.

According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the deal is dead in the water.

Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Wiz, wrote the company is now focusing on an initial public offering (IPO), as it had planned originally. He aims to achieve a recurring revenue of 1 billion dollar.

“Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice,” he said in the memo.

Both Alphabet and Wiz declined to comment on the matter.

Founded in 2020, Wiz is an Israeli cloud security company that offers an all-in-one approach to cloud computing security and helps companies to identify and remove potential security risks. Almost half of all Fortune 100 companies entrust their cloud security to Wiz.

Last year, Wiz generated about 350 million dollar in revenue. Only a month ago the company raised over 1 billion dollar in private funding, rating the company at 12 billion dollar.

Alphabet has been investing in its cloud infrastructure and security. The company’s cloud business grew 28 percent to 9.6 billion dollar in the first fiscal quarter of this year. Last year Alphabet generated more than 33 billion dollar in revenues in just this branch.

Pulling the plug on the multi-billion dollar deal will be a setback for Alphabet, who’s trying to win more clients for its cloud business.