Startup faces difficult decision in turning down Rs. 200000 crore offer from Google

Cybersecurity startup Wiz has rejected Google’s substantial acquisition offer after reaching advanced talks. Google’s parent company Alphabet had proposed a significant amount of $23 billion (approximately Rs. 2 lakh crore) to acquire Wiz, potentially making it Google’s largest acquisition to date. According to a CNBC report, Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport informed staff in an internal memo about the decision to decline the offer.

Why did Wiz turn down Google’s offer?

According to an internal memo seen by CNBC, Wiz founder Assaf Rappaport said the company is interested in conducting an IPO. “Saying no to such humiliating offers is difficult,” Rappaport wrote in a memo to employees. The memo further reveals that Wiz is now focusing on the goal it had set before the Google offer. The company’s goal is to achieve an annual recurring turnover of one billion dollars along with the IPO. It should be noted that neither company has officially commented on the deal.

Why Google is interested in Wiz

Over the years, Wiz has become a leader in cloud-based cybersecurity solutions. The company, founded in Israel, is now headquartered in New York and has large clients. It currently owns about 40 percent of the Fortune 100 companies. After the last $1 billion (Rs 8,353 crore) funding round, the company was valued at $12 billion (Rs 1,00,251 crore).

Wiz currently employs approximately 900 people in the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel. It has notable clients such as Morgan Stanley and DocuSign. It also has Microsoft and Amazon as partners. Google reportedly began considering such a massive acquisition shortly after it decided not to buy software company HubSpot. The deal would have helped Google expand its footprint in cloud-based services and market itself competitively in the evolving digital information security environment.