Google Renegotiates Wiz Acquisition Deal That Fell Through Last Year... Betting 43 Trillion Won

Google is reportedly renegotiating the acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 17th (local time). Foreign media have evaluated that this acquisition by Google is expected to be a test of the U.S. Donald Trump administration's antitrust regulatory resolve.

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WSJ cited sources saying that Alphabet, Google's parent company, is in the final negotiation stage to acquire Wiz for $30 billion (43.35 trillion KRW), and the contract is likely to be signed soon.

Wiz provides services that detect and eliminate security risks from large-scale data stored in the cloud. Founded in 2020, the company is headquartered in New York and had a corporate valuation of $16 billion at the end of last year.

Google also attempted acquisition negotiations last year, but some Wiz investors expressed concerns that the deal would take time to pass regulatory barriers, and other issues arose, causing the negotiations to collapse. WSJ reported that Google's acquisition of Wiz will be a test of the Trump administration's antitrust regulatory will and a benchmark for other tech company mergers and acquisitions.

The acquisition amount proposed by Google this time is about twice the valuation at the end of last year, increasing by $7 billion from last year's $23 billion.

Wiz counts major cloud companies such as Amazon and Microsoft (MS), as well as Google, among its clients. Google hopes that Wiz's security technology will strengthen its cloud service competitiveness and help improve Google's cloud computing competitiveness, which has lagged behind Amazon and MS.

If this deal is completed, it will be Google's largest acquisition since acquiring Motorola Mobility in 2012. At that time, Google purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. WSJ also noted that a successful acquisition of Wiz would be a hopeful signal for venture capitalists who have struggled to generate profits in the IPO and M&A markets for years.

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