To understand why cybersecurity company Wiz, led by CEO Assaf Rappaport, declined Google’s $23 billion acquisition offer, it's essential to consider the history of another cybersecurity giant, Palo Alto Networks.
Despite its name, Palo Alto was founded by Israeli engineer and mathematician Nir Zuk in 2005. Zuk, a former member of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 8200, dramatically parted ways with another prominent Israeli cyber company, Check Point, to chart his own path.
Under his leadership, Palo Alto acquired many startup companies in its field, including some in Israel. It expanded and went public on NASDAQ exactly 12 years ago at a valuation of less than $3 billion. Its current market value exceeds $105 billion, 35 times higher.
Nir Zuk has since relocated to Israel, invested in non-cybersecurity fields in the country, and continues to hold the title of Palo Alto’s chief technology officer.
Wiz’s founders, which is still a private company that has not gone public or disclosed its full financial reports, rightfully asked themselves why they should agree to be swallowed up by a giant like Google instead of adopting a path of growth and self-development like Palo Alto took?
Google acquired the Israeli navigation company Waze in 2013 for a pittance, at a valuation of less than a billion dollars – and since the acquisition has hardly allocated resources for its upgrade, improvement and expansion. In fact, Google bought its most significant competitor to its Maps application to stifle competition. This precedent is unsympathetic, especially in the eyes of successful Israeli tech entrepreneurs like those in Wiz.
Before long, Wiz will be listed on some American stock exchange, and what Israel needs to do is make every effort to persuade its controlling shareholders, the Israeli founders and various investment funds, to also register for trading in Tel Aviv and continue to develop products and services in the country until it too surpasses the $100 billion mark.
This is possible and more important than the tax revenues on capital gains from the IPO that Israeli shareholders will receive from the sale. Regarding these hypothetical revenues, in an interview with Ynet's sister publication Yedioth Ahronoth last weekend, Prof. Avi Simhon, head of the National Economic Council, said, "The bear hasn’t been captured yet."
In simpler words, Wiz’s "bear" isn’t its selling price; it’s the brains of its employees. And those should not be captured, but kept here.