By Milana Vinn
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Google parent Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for roughly $23 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.
A deal could come together soon, the source said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.
If Alphabet moves ahead with its bid to acquire Wiz, it would mark its biggest acquisition ever and be a rare example of a major technology company attempting a megadeal amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of the sector under U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
In recent years, U.S. regulators have indicated growing aversion to large technology companies getting bigger through acquisitions.
Wiz, which is headquartered in New York and has research and development facilities in Tel Aviv, generated about $350 million in revenue in 2023 and works with 40% of Fortune 100 companies, according to its website.
The U.S.-Israeli startup recently raised $1 billion in a private funding round that valued the four-year-old cloud cybersecurity company at $12 billion.
Alphabet and Wiz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The talks between Alphabet and Wiz come after the technology giant recently decided not to pursue a takeover of online marketing software company HubSpot, Reuters reported earlier in July.
The Wall Street Journal reported Alphabet’s talks with Wiz earlier on Sunday.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York and Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Will Dunham, Lisa Shumaker and Andrea Ricci)
