Google's $23B Wiz Acquisition Falls Through

Google-parent Alphabet had plans for its biggest ever acquisition - but it looks like the deal is off.

Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz appears to have canceled a $23 billion takeover.

Neither company has ever officially confirmed talks over a deal, and neither commented on the latest report.

If confirmed, it would be a blow for Google, which has been investing heavily in its cloud computing infrastructure.

It would also be the second failed acquisition for Alphabet in recent times.

It reportedly walked away from a deal to buy online marketing software company HubSpot.

The $23 billion cited for Wiz would have been almost double the value put on the firm in a fund-raising round in May.

Google-parent Alphabet beat forecasts over the latest quarter as ad sales and cloud computing revenue came in strong.

The tech giant said that net income jumped more than a quarter to $23.6 billion.

Advertising revenue - its main source of income - jumped 11% to almost $65 billion.

Sales were helped by big events like the upcoming Paris Olympics.

Investors gave the numbers an uncertain reaction, however, with Alphabet shares first rising, then falling back.

One concern was a warning that capital expenditures are set to stay high.

They hit $13 billion over the June quarter, and the company says they’ll remain close to that level for the rest of the year.

Alphabet is pouring money into AI products, but with sometimes mixed results.

Among the embarrassments, one of its bots suggested putting glue on pizza to better hold the cheese.

Google subsequently pulled back on the technology to work out the kinks.

Chief Executive Sundar Pichai remains bullish though.

He says AI will soon become a major revenue driver.

It’s already helping to spur deals for Alphabet’s cloud computing division, where sales jumped close to 29%.