Wiz Nixes Google’s $23-B Offer, Seeks IPO Instead

Cybersecurity startup Wiz Inc. has turned down a takeover bid of as much as $23 billion from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, sticking instead with a plan for an initial public offering (IPO), Lynn Doan and Julia Love reported for Bloomberg News.

Albeit humbled by the generous offer, Wiz co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport stated that he felt confident with the tough decision to turn down Google. I Photo: Wiz.io Facebook

The rejection will come as a blow to Google, which is trying to catch up with Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. in the competitive cloud services market. Google, which bought cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion just two years ago in its second-largest acquisition, could have used Wiz to round out its security offerings.

The New York-based startup connects to cloud storage providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and scans data stored there for security risks.

“Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice,” Wiz Chief Executive Officer Assaf Rappaport said in a memo to employees seen by Bloomberg News.

The company’s next milestones are reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and an IPO, he said.

Wiz decided it could ultimately be worth more as a public company, and concerns about the potential for a protracted regulatory approval process also encouraged it to stay independent, people with knowledge of the matter said, Mark Bergen, Katie Roof, and Marissa Newman also reported for Bloomberg News.