Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google LLC, has cleared a major regulatory hurdle in its planned $32 billion acquisition of cloud security startup Wiz Inc., as the U.S. Department of Justice completed its antitrust review without objections.

The news was first revealed by Wiz Chief Executive Officer Assaf Rappaport at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday and was actually confirmed earlier via an Oct. 24 filing from the Federal Trade Commission that states that the merger “granting status” has been granted.

The acquisition deal, announced in March, is Alphabet’s largest acquisition to date and is set to significantly bolster its Google Cloud security portfolio.

Wiz was founded in 2020 by Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica and Roy Reznik (pictured), former leads of Microsoft’s Cloud Security Group and the founding team of Adallo Inc., a cybersecurity startup acquired by Microsoft for $320 million in 2015.

The company offers a software platform designed to help companies detect vulnerabilities and malicious activity in their cloud setup across networks, identity, compute, applications and secrets. Wiz’s platform presents all relevant information in one place at any scale to deliver quicker insights and informed decision-making.

Other features of Wiz’s platform include vulnerability ranking through a risk-weighted view, allowing users to assess vulnerabilities and misconfigurations based on severity, exposure, exploitability, blast radius and business impact. The company’s platform provides support for Amazon Web Service Inc., Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Kubernetes application programming interfaces.

Coming into its acquisition, Wiz had raised $1.9 billion over seven rounds, including a round of $1 billion on a $12 billion valuation in May 2024.

Discussing the news, Karen Walker, chief financial officer at real-time cloud security provider Sysdig Inc., told SiliconANGLE via email that “Google’s proposed acquisition of Wiz is a massive validation for the entire cloud security market.”

“A $32 billion deal underscores what we’ve all been witnessing: cloud-native security has become mission-critical for modern businesses, not just a nice-to-have,” added Walker. “It’s also a clear signal that innovation in our space is moving faster than legacy players can keep up with.”

Agnidipta Sarkar, chief evangelist at zero-trust security provider ColorTokens Inc., commented that the acquisition is expected to enhance Google’s leadership in the realm of cloud security, as “the implementation of Wiz’s Cloud Security Platform is anticipated to fortify Google Security Operations by improving the security of cloud-native applications throughout their entire development lifecycle, as well as safeguarding code, continuous integration and continues delivery systems and infrastructure.”

Danny Brickman, co-founder and CEO at identity management provider Oasis Security Ltd., also reflected on how the acquisition will enhance Google’s security offerings, saying that “Google’s investment in Wiz is a ringing affirmation of the vital role next-generation cybersecurity companies play in today’s cloud-driven, AI-powered world. This not only validates the immense value of innovative cybersecurity solutions, it also signals a bright future for the industry as a whole.”

Photo: Wiz