Cybersecurity firm Wiz rejects $23B takeover offer from Alphabet

Wiz, the cloud security startup headquartered in New York and founded in 2020, rejected a $23 billion takeover offer from Alphabet, preparing instead a plan to float its shares in an initial public offering (IPO).

Wiz cofounder and CEO Assaf Rappaport wrote in a memo to the company's employees: "Saying no to such humbling offers is tough," CNBC reported.

A knowledgeable source indicated that the company's antitrust concerns as one of its reasons behind the decision to withdraw.

The acquisition, which would have been the largest ever for Google's parent company, would have doubled the startup's value of $12 billion from its latest financing round.

Alphabet's cloud computing business has been under pressure to grow amid competition from leading companies like Amazon and Microsoft, something the Wiz deal could have helped with.