Google’s $32 billion Wiz deal set to close next month as shekel strength erases NIS 20 billion
Dollar’s fall since announcement trims founders’ and employees’ windfall as final regulatory approvals near.
Google’s $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz is entering its final phase, with the transaction expected to close in mid-March following regulatory approvals in the United States and, this week, the European Union.
Three jurisdictions, Australia, South Africa and Turkey, still formally remain. Yet none is widely seen as a meaningful obstacle. Even if one were to withhold approval, Google could choose to withdraw from that market rather than derail the largest purchase ever of an Israeli-founded technology company, creating its own form of leverage in the process.
One regulatory authority, however, is notably absent from the list: the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority. The British regulator has earned a reputation as one of the toughest antitrust watchdogs in global technology deals, having temporarily blocked Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In this case, Google did not submit the transaction for review in the U.K. at all.
The reason is technical but revealing. Google’s market share in Britain’s cloud sector falls below the threshold that would require notification. In other words, despite being one of the world’s largest technology companies, Google remains a smaller player in U.K. cloud infrastructure relative to competitors, a fact that shaped the regulatory map of the deal.
The absence of British scrutiny removes what could have been the most unpredictable hurdle. Following clearance in Brussels, where regulators concluded the acquisition raised no competition concerns, the path to closing appears largely procedural.
When the deal is completed, $32 billion in cash will be distributed among Wiz’s founders, its 2,700 employees and its investors, which include major venture capital firms such as Index, Sequoia, Insight, Lightspeed and Israel’s Cyberstarts.
The four co-founders, Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik, stand to receive multibillion-dollar payouts. They each hold approximately 9.3% of Wiz, meaning they will each receive around $3 billion before taxes from the acquisition. Employees collectively will receive roughly $2 billion to $2.5 billion, reflecting shares and options accumulated during Wiz’s rapid ascent. Of that, approximately $1.5 billion is structured as a retention package to be paid over three years, ensuring key personnel remain within Google after the acquisition closes.
Yet even a deal of this magnitude has been reshaped by time and macroeconomics.
Since the acquisition was announced last year, the U.S. dollar has weakened sharply against the Israeli shekel. At announcement, the dollar traded at 3.67 shekels; it now trades at roughly 3.07. The shift, combined with the lengthy regulatory process, has reduced the deal’s value in shekel terms by nearly NIS 20 billion.
The remaining approval processes in countries such as Turkey and South Africa are widely viewed as negligible for a transaction of this scale. In practical terms, the decisive tests were Washington and Brussels.
The U.S. Department of Justice terminated its antitrust review last year, signaling no intent to block or delay the deal. The European Commission followed with unconditional Phase I clearance this week, determining that customers would retain credible alternatives and the ability to switch providers.
If the final clearances proceed as expected, mid-March will mark not only the closing of a $32 billion acquisition but also the conclusion of one of the most closely watched technology deals of the past year, one shaped as much by jurisdictional thresholds and currency markets as by competition law.
