$32 billion in cash Google inks $32 billion deal to buy security firm Wiz even as DOJ seeks breakup Merger revived after falling apart in 2024 on concern about regulatory approval. Jon Brodkin Mar 18, 2025 12:53 pm | 6 Credit: Getty Images | Josh Edelson Credit: Getty Images | Josh Edelson Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreGoogle today announced a $32 billion deal to buy Wiz, an Israeli cloud security company that would become part of Google's cloud division if the merger is completed.The all-cash deal requires regulatory approval at a time when the Department of Justice is trying to break up Google by forcing it to sell the Chrome browser after a judge ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly. Google is also awaiting a verdict in a separate ad-tech monopoly case brought by the US government.Google's announcement this morning said that "Wiz's products will continue to work and be available across all major clouds, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud platforms."Google parent Alphabet nearly struck a $23 billion deal for Wiz in July 2024, but the talks fell apart. At the time, Wiz and some investors reportedly worried the proposed merger could be stuck in regulatory limbo for over a year and might not be approved by the government. The sides reportedly also didn't agree then on whether Wiz would be integrated into Google's cloud business or operate as a separate unit inside Google.Trump expected to be more merger-friendlyAs is typical in merger announcements, Google's press release today cautioned investors about the risks that the merger could be blocked by regulators or might not deliver the results the companies expect even if the deal is completed. While the DOJ has not dropped its attempt to break up Google that began during the Biden administration, mergers might be easier to complete under the Trump administration."While a tough regulatory climate in 2024 had hampered such large-scale deals, Wall Street is optimistic that a shift in antitrust policies under US President Donald Trump could reignite dealmaking momentum," Reuters wrote today.Google reportedly agreed to a $3.2 billion breakup fee that would be paid to Wiz if the deal collapses. A Financial Times report said the breakup fee is unusually large as it represents 10 percent of the total deal value, instead of the typical 2 or 3 percent. The large breakup fee "shows how technology companies are still bracing themselves for pushback from antitrust regulators, even under President Donald Trump and his new Federal Trade Commission chair Andrew Ferguson," the article said.Wiz co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport wrote today that although the plan is for Wiz to become part of Google Cloud, the companies both believe that "Wiz needs to remain a multicloud platform... We will still work closely with our great partners at AWS, Azure, Oracle, and across the entire industry."Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian wrote that Wiz's platform would fill a gap in Google's security offerings. Google products already "help customers detect and respond to attackers through both SaaS-based services and cybersecurity consulting," but Wiz is different because it "connects to all major clouds and code environments to help prevent incidents from happening in the first place," he wrote."Wiz's solution rapidly scans the customer's environment, constructing a comprehensive graph of code, cloud resources, services, and applicationsalong with the connections between them," Kurian wrote. "It identifies potential attack paths, prioritizes the most critical risks based on their impact, and empowers enterprise developers to secure applications before deployment. It also helps security teams collaborate with developers to remediate risks in code or detect and block ongoing attacks."Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 6 Comments