As widely reported, Wiz recently said no to a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google. At that price, it would have been Google’s biggest acquisition ever.
It’s possible the Google team got cold feet during due diligence, or there may have been concerns that regulators would have challenged an acquisition of this size. But all the reporting — including TechCrunch’s — suggests that the decision to walk away came from Wiz, not Google.
That’s how CEO Assaf Rappaport described it in an email to Wiz’s 1,200 employees, where he didn’t go into details about any acquisition offers, except to say “we are flattered,” and that despite being flattered, the company had “chosen to continue on our path to continue Wiz.”
Rappaport also wrote, “Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice.” He said the company’s next goals are to reach $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and to go public.
So it sounds like Google being willing to make such a huge offer gave Wiz’s leadership confidence that if they continued on an independent path, Wiz might be worth even more than $23 billion one day — maybe as a public company, or if not, then as an even more expensive acquisition target.
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