Google-Wiz deal expected to be cleared by EU following meeting with regulators, report says | CTech

Google and Wiz executives met with European Union merger officials last Tuesday in discussions that appear to have eased the path for the technology industry’s largest cybersecurity acquisition. According to MLex, a specialized regulatory news service, the $32 billion transaction is now expected to avoid an in-depth EU merger inquiry, a signal that Brussels may be leaning toward a swift Phase I clearance.

The European Commission faces a hard deadline of February 10 to decide whether to approve Alphabet’s purchase of the Israeli cloud-security company or to escalate the review into a lengthy Phase II investigation. The MLex report suggests that, despite mounting political and civil-society pressure, regulators are not currently inclined to pursue the more aggressive route.

That prospect will come as a relief to Google, which has framed the acquisition as a way to strengthen security across cloud…