Wiz rejects 23 billion offer from Google and prepares for IPO in cybersecurity sector

The cybersecurity start-up Wiz rejects the $23 billion takeover offer by Google Alphabet and moves towards an IPO. The rejection will be a blow to Alphabet, which is trying to catch up with Microsoft and Amazon in an extremely competitive cloud services market. Alphabet, which bought cybersecurity company Mandiant for $5.4 billion only two years ago in its second-largest acquisition ever, could have used Wiz to complement its security offering. The New York-based start-up connects to cloud storage service providers, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and analyses stored data for security risks.

"Saying no to such humiliating offers is difficult, but thanks to our outstanding team, I feel confident in making this choice," said Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport in a note to employees viewed by Bloomberg News. "Let me cut to the chase," Rappaport said. The company's next goals are to reach $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and to go public.

An acquisition target as large as Wiz would have been unusual for a large technology company like Alphabet and could have attracted increased scrutiny from antitrust authorities. Google already faces several antitrust challenges, including a lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice accusing it of abusing its dominant position in search services and another concerning its digital advertising tools.