Google-Wiz Deal: 5 Huge Microsoft, AWS, AI And Google Cloud Things To Know
From Google’s $95 billion in cash and Google Cloud’s product plans to the market impact on Microsoft and AWS, here are five major things you need to know about Google’s blockbuster $32 billion planned acquisition of security star Wiz.
The market disruption that Google’s planned $32 billion acquisition of Wiz has spurred is monumental as Google Cloud is positioning itself to win market share from rivals Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, as all three cloud titans battle to become a leader in the AI era.
Despite valuation concerns and regulatory risks, the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant’s highly aggressive move might precisely be what Google Cloud needs to solidify its cybersecurity portfolio.
“This will help spur the adoption of multi-cloud cybersecurity, the use of multi-cloud, and competition and growth in cloud computing,” said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian this week.
[Related: Google Cloud’s 5 Biggest Executive Exits And Hires In 2025 So Far]
Google’s $95 Billion In Cash And Time Frame For Deal Closure
Google currently has more than $95 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term marketable securities—meaning it has the funding.
However, analysts expect the transaction won’t close until 2026 due to the regulatory approvals needed and closing conditions. For example, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks has hit numerous regulatory blockades from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Google’s Wiz acquisition—with a price tag that is more than double that of the HPE-Juniper merger—will likely attract antitrust groups and reviews, potentially delaying the deal.
If the deal closes, Wiz will be operating under $48 billion Google Cloud. It’s not clear if it will operate as an independent entity within Google Cloud or be fully integrated.
In July 2024, Google was in advanced talks to acquire Wiz for $23 billion but discussions fell apart. Wiz then said it would focus on an initial public offering. However, eight months later and with an additional $9 billion added to the price tag, it has won over Wiz.
From its agentic AI hopes to boosting competition against Microsoft and AWS, here are five key things to know about Google’s blockbuster planned acquisition of Wiz that every partner, investor and customer should know.
Wiz Is A Direct Shot At Microsoft
In 2023, Microsoft unveiled that its security business had surpassed $20 billion. Google, for its part, recently said its security revenue has increased 5X over the past five years but has yet to provide figures on its security business.
Microsoft and Google Cloud have two of the most comprehensive end-to-end AI technology stacks in the world—from Azure and Google Cloud Platform infrastructure to AI platforms and collaboration technologies with Google Workspace with Gemini and Microsoft 365 with Copilot.
Google Cloud partners told CRN that Google is striving to better compete against Microsoft in the cloud security market with the purchase of Wiz boosting not only Google’s cyber technology but also its enterprise customer base.
Currently, 50 percent of the global Fortune 100 companies are Wiz customers.
“Having Wiz within the same portfolio and more natively integrated into Google Cloud helps with competition. And the multi-cloud nature of Wiz also helps by just having an inventory of all the assets that are deployed in hybrid or multi-cloud situations,” said Asif Hasan, CEO of Quantiphi, a leading Google Cloud and AI solution provider. “Then there’s just the competitive advantage of having best-in-class security offerings.”
Michael Hadley, president and CEO of iCorps Technology, said he also sees the deal as a broadside to win “security mind and market share” from Microsoft.
“I’m not surprised Google would pay such a high price for Wiz,” he said. “Microsoft has so much security and AI momentum that Google needed to do something to be more competitive.”
Wiz co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport said he expects Google to enable his company to accelerate innovation and sales.
“We believe this will enable us to execute and innovate even faster. Allowing us to accelerate our rate of innovation than what we could achieve as a stand-alone company, thus enabling us to protect more organizations,” said Rappaport.
Throwing ‘Cold Water’ On AWS-Wiz Partnership
Wiz has been a technology partner of AWS for years, with Wiz integrating with over 70 AWS services, including many of AWS’ most popular products like Amazon S3, Amazon Q and AWS Security Lake.
Ethan Simmons, CEO of PTP, a top-notch AWS partner, said Google’s acquisition of Wiz will likely have some impact on AWS.
“From the AWS security events that I’ve been to, Wiz has been part of those. Obviously, there was a strong push within AWS to help Wiz be successful in their accounts. This is definitely going to throw some cold water on those relationships,” said Simmons.
“You’ll see less Wiz in AWS accounts going forward. Just in the sales cycle, I doubt they’ll see the same support they were seeing before from AWS sales teams,” he said.
However, Simmons said he doesn’t believe customers are going to immediately leave AWS for Google Cloud just because of Wiz. “Are customers going to make a change just because Google owns it? I don’t think it’ll have that big of an impact,” he said.
Wiz CEO Rappaport, for his part, said Wiz plans to still work closely with partners Microsoft and AWS.
“We will still work closely with our great partners at AWS, Azure, Oracle and across the entire industry,” said Rappaport in a blog post. “We both believe Wiz needs to remain a multi-cloud platform, so that across any cloud, we will continue to be a leading platform.”
Rappaport said partners will remain integral to Wiz’s strategy of making the company open to organizations of all types and sizes. “The timing has never been better to partner with Wiz,” he said.
Key Google-Wiz Customer Goals: Enhance Multi-Cloud Security And Lower Costs
Google said most organizations are deploying multi-cloud or hybrid environments that lead to complex management challenges.
“At the same time, software and AI platforms are becoming deeply embedded across products and operations, bringing new and evolving risks for private enterprises, governments and other public sector organizations,” said Kurian (pictured).
A combined Google Cloud and Wiz will build the next generation of cloud security offerings that customers need, “spanning multiple clouds, as well as hybrid and on-premises environments; that can protect against threats to and from AI models; that can use AI to extend defenses; and that can fully integrate software development and operations into the security portfolio,” said Google Cloud’s Kurian.
Wiz delivers a seamless cloud security platform that connects to all major clouds and code environments to help prevent incidents from happening.
“We are aiming to provide customers with better security for enterprise systems and lower the cost of maintaining a strong security posture across their on-premises and multi-cloud environments,” Kurian said.
The ultimate goal is to help spur the adoption of multi-cloud cybersecurity, the use of multi-cloud, as well as competition and growth in cloud computing, according to Kurian.
Wiz and Google Cloud are already partners so the groundwork for integrating technologies is already there. The companies have unveiled several upcoming product innovations coming to customers if the deal closes.
Specifically, Google said it will build a next-generation unified security platform that combines Wiz’s Cloud Security Platform with Google Security Operations, securing cloud-native applications at every stage of development and protecting code, systems and infrastructure.
In addition, Google and Wiz will create new threat protection technology that provides “protection against new threats that are emerging with the adoption of AI, including threats to and from models,” Kurian said.
Google said it will also leverage Wiz technologies to boost its own Mandiant offerings.
On the agentic AI front, Google plans to leverage Wiz technology to boost its AI agents, including using AI agents to act as an extension of security teams. Wiz’s AI-driven security features will bolster Google’s capabilities and appeal to enterprises deploying AI workloads in multi-cloud environments.
“Google Cloud is a leader in cloud infrastructure, with deep AI expertise and a track record of industry-leading security innovation. Bringing this to Wiz will help make their solutions even better and more scalable, helping protect more organizations faster,” said Kurian.
Google’s M&A History: $12.4B Motorola Flop And Groundbreaking YouTube Purchase
If completed, Google’s $32 billion Wiz acquisition will be—by far—the largest acquisition in the company’s history.
The most comparable acquisition in Google’s history would be its $5.4 billion purchase of cybersecurity and threat intelligence company Mandiant in 2022.
The second largest acquisition Google ever made was in 2012 when it purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.4 billion. However, Google later sold Motorola to Lenovo for $2.9 billion at a significant loss.
Google has made some groundbreaking acquisitions over the decades, including its purchase of YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion as well as Looker for $2.6 billion in 2020.
Partners believe that cybersecurity is, and will continue to be, one of the most important investments for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
“The size of the Wiz acquisition itself speaks volumes about the importance of what this brings to the Google Cloud portfolio,” said Quantiphi’s Hasan. “Google is putting its money where its mouth is.”
