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Cailianshe News, July 23 (Editor: Ma Lan)Google's biggest acquisition in history has failed miserably. According to public information on Tuesday, its acquisition target, cloud security startup Wiz, announced that it would conduct an initial public offering as originally planned.

Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport said in a memo that it was difficult to turn down an attractive offer.

Google recently announced that it will acquire the company for $23 billion, which means that this is nearly double the $12 billion valuation of Wiz in its latest round of financing.

Rappaport added that the company is focused on achieving its next business milestones: an IPO and $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, two goals the company had been aiming to achieve before the Google acquisition was reported.

One source said Wiz rejected Google's offer partly because of antitrust concerns and concerns among some investors.

Wiz revealed its intention to go public in May this year, but then attracted the interest of Google. However, since Wiz itself is not short of funds, Google's acquisition may not be what Wiz dreams of.

Independent development

Founded in 2020, Wiz achieved its annual revenue target of $100 million just 18 months after its creation and reached $350 million in recurring revenue by 2023. Its cloud security products include prevention, active detection and response services, allowing users to identify and eliminate key risks on cloud platforms with the help of artificial intelligence.

The product line is attractive to Google, which has been investing in cloud infrastructure, and the acquisition of Wiz could win more customers for its cloud business, which generated more than $33 billion in revenue last year.

In 2022, Google acquired the cybersecurity company Mandiant for $5.4 billion, and Wiz, which has even greater potential, made Google offer the highest acquisition price in the technology industry.

But Wiz's rejection undoubtedly poured cold water on Google's enthusiasm. This is the second time that Google and its parent company Alphabet have suffered a blow in the field of mergers and acquisitions recently. Previously, there was news that the company would give up the acquisition of online marketing software company HubSpot.

On the other hand, last weekend, one of Wiz's main competitors, Crowdstrike, suffered a sudden outage, causing many companies around the world to experience blue screens and network paralysis, and also forcing the market to re-evaluate the important value of cybersecurity companies.

Some analysts said that Wiz may view the Crowdstrike incident as an opportunity to further consolidate its market position, and thus be more inclined to raise funds in the public market to become an independent Internet giant rather than a branch of a technology giant.

(Ma Lan, Cailianshe)