BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (KUNA) -- The European Commission on Tuesday approved, following thorough investigation, the acquisition by US company Google of the cloud security platform Wiz for 32 billion dollars.
"Google ranks behind Amazon and Microsoft in terms of market shares in cloud infrastructure, and our assessment confirmed that customers will continue to have credible alternatives and the ability to switch providers," European Commissioner for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
"Therefore, the transaction does not raise competition concerns in cloud computing or cloud security services within the European Economic Area".
The EU argued that Google provides cloud infrastructure services through Google Cloud, and also offers cloud security services to its users and, to a limited extent, to users of other cloud service providers, while Wiz offers an integrated platform for protecting cloud applications, enabling companies, including major European firms, to safeguard their systems against cyber threats across multiple cloud environments.
The investigation focused on the fast-growing cloud security market, which is closely linked to the cloud infrastructure market in which Google operates alongside major companies such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, noting that multi-cloud security solutions help customers distribute workloads across more than one provider.
The investigation examined the issue of Google's access to commercially sensitive data relating to competing service providers; however, the results showed that such data is not commercially sensitive and can also be accessed by other cybersecurity companies.
Accordingly, the European Commission concluded that the transaction does not hinder effective competition in any of the relevant markets within the European Economic Area and approved it unconditionally.
The European Commission was officially notified of the deal in January 2026 after it was referred by three Member States namely Cyprus, Ireland and Sweden in accordance with EU merger control rules. (end) arn.ibi