Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) new attempt to buy Israeli cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz is a fresh test for how aggressively President Trump’s antitrust watchdogs will respond to moves by Big Tech.
While there is no guarantee regulators will greenlight the $32 billion all-cash deal merging Wiz into Google Cloud, the transaction may be on more solid footing than it was when first contemplated during the Biden administration.
That optimism is fueled by signs that Trump’s antitrust enforcers may be willing to bend in cases where companies can argue that a tie-up would give the US an edge in the global race to dominate artificial intelligence.
“This deal will get careful scrutiny,” said Michael Carrier, an antitrust law professor at Rutgers Law School, “but at the end of the day, I believe it is likely to be approved given an anticipated less aggressive blocking of mergers and the AI angle.”
The deal would be the largest-ever acquisition for Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Wiz leverages AI to enhance its primary business providing cloud security for major tech players, including Google, Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Oracle (ORCL).
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during a webcast on Tuesday that the acquisition would help Google manage the accelerating pace and impact of cloud security breaches, including those introduced by AI.
“AI brings new risks, but also new opportunities,” Pichai said.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) · ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport said during the same webcast that the merged company would continue to integrate AI-powered cybersecurity tools for prioritizing threats, analyzing cloud security configurations for risks, and automating AI-powered remediation workflows.
Alphabet stock was down nearly 3% Tuesday afternoon amid a broader sell-off of tech names.
The tie comes after signs that Trump’s antitrust officials at the Justice Department may take a lighter approach to AI enforcement.
In a March 7 filing, Trump’s DOJ argued to a judge that Google should be able to keep its AI investments in companies such as Anthropic even if other parts of its empire are broken up following a federal judge’s ruling that Google illegally monopolized online search markets.
On his first day in office, Trump rescinded an executive order issued by President Biden that directed AI developers to apply AI “responsibly,” including by disclosing their safety test results to the government.
The lighter-touch approach also has support from Congress.
JD Harriman noted that a congressional bipartisan task force on AI made it clear in its December report that lawmakers would take a “wait and see” attitude on AI regulation.
Assaf Rappaport, co-founder and CEO of Wiz. (Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch) · Kimberly White via Getty Images
They expressed concern over China’s AI advancements and the industry’s potential impact on military strength, noting that the country had secured more AI patent applications, journal publications, and journal citations.
On his first day back in office, President Trump issued an executive order directing federal advisers in technology and national security to “enhance America’s global AI dominance.”
At the Paris AI Summit on Feb. 11, Vice President JD Vance then emphasized AI opportunity over safety concerns.
“I’m not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was the title of the conference a couple of years ago,” Vance said. “I’m here to talk about AI opportunity.”
“[T]o restrict its development now would not only unfairly benefit incumbents in the space, it would mean paralyzing one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations.”
But Trump’s antitrust cops aren’t ignoring AI altogether. The FTC, for example, has broadened a probe into Microsoft (MSFT) and its relationship with AI upstart OpenAI, according to a Bloomberg report.
The probe was first launched by Biden FTC Chair Lina Khan, a key architect of a new movement seeking to expand the legal theories that can give rise to antitrust claims.
Harry First, a law professor at New York University School of Law, said the DOJ will look into the case of Alphabet and Wiz to “see whether Google has the incentive and ability to foreclose Amazon, let’s say, or Microsoft, from the services that with supplies to them.”
First said that if officials conclude that the deal threatens competition, Google and Wiz may be asked for concessions. “So this is where the switch of administrations may matter.”
As for arguing that an AI connection should allow the deal to sail through, “I’m not sure how much weight, in the end, that’s going to have,” he added.
“If they get to that point, they’re sort of Hail Mary passing.”
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Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed.
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