Google closes $32B Wiz acquisition — largest-ever venture-backed exit, displacing WhatsApp
Mar 18, 2025
Key Points
- Google closes $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, the largest venture-backed exit ever, surpassing Meta's $19 billion WhatsApp deal from 2014.
- Four co-founders each pocket over $3 billion, while investors in a $16 billion secondary round from less than a year ago score 2x returns.
- Google's stock sinks $50-60 billion in market cap over five days as investors question the deal's ROI and whether the capital should have funded AI or buybacks instead.
Summary
Google closed its $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, the largest venture-backed exit on record, surpassing Meta's $19 billion WhatsApp deal from 2014. Wiz, a cloud security platform founded in 2020 by Israeli Unit 8200 alumni including CEO Assaf Rappaport, now operates as a Google subsidiary.
The deal started at roughly $20 billion last summer before talks stalled. Wiz returned to market in the fall and secured improved terms, ultimately reaching $32 billion—a higher valuation than any competing bidder offered. The company grew confident the transaction could clear regulatory review, with Google framing the acquisition as strategically important to American national security amid rising cloud security threats.
Founder and investor payouts
Rappaport and his three co-founders—Amy Lewack, Yinon Costia, and Roy Resnik—each stand to make over $3 billion. Investors who joined a $16 billion secondary round less than a year ago achieved a 2x return. The cap table includes Sequoia Capital, Cyberstarts, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Thrive Capital, Green Oaks, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Strategic rationale
Google Cloud holds 12% of the cloud market as of Q4 2024, trailing AWS at 30% and Azure at 21%. The acquisition works strategically because Wiz can remain a standalone product sold to any cloud customer while integrating deeply with Google's own cloud security offerings to compete against AWS and Azure's bundled security stacks.
Google's stock fell roughly $50–60 billion in market cap over five days surrounding the announcement. Investors criticized the deal for lacking specifics on cloud revenue impact or margin improvement. Some questioned whether $32 billion would have served Google better in a stock buyback (it represents only 1.6% of market cap) or in AI products, given that Gemini remains weak against competitors.
Background
Wiz's leadership reflects a broader pattern of Israeli cyber-talent exits. Unit 8200 veterans also founded Palo Alto Networks and Fireblocks. Rappaport, 41, is a Tel Aviv native known for wearing Golden Goose sneakers under a hoodie. He brought his border collie Maia, the company's Chief Dog Officer, to Wiz offices in New York and Tel Aviv. Maia died late last year. Rappaport said she was the love of his life and maintained her own LinkedIn page.