The $32B acquisition that one VC is calling the 'Deal of the Decade'

–:–:–:– TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026: Last day for ticket savings of up to $300. Register Now. Save up to $680 on your Disrupt 2026 pass. Ends 11:59 p.m. PT tonight. REGISTER NOW . Close Startups The $32B acquisition that one VC is calling the ‘Deal of the Decade’ Theresa Loconsolo 9:20 AM PDT · March 13, 2026 38 min Loading the player… According to Index Ventures Partner Shardul Shah , cybersecurity startup Wiz sits “at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spend.” Those tailwinds powered what just became the largest venture-backed acquisition in history — Google’s $32 billion deal, finalized after a declined 2024 offer, antitrust review on both sides of the Atlantic, and an extra $9 billion to sweeten the pot. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Anthony Ha, Rebecca Bellan, and Sean O’Kane sit down with Shah to dig into what made Wiz worth that price tag and more of the week’s headlines. From DOGE data concerns to Palmer Luckey’s retro gaming startup and Meta’s acquisition of viral AI agent social network Moltbook. Plus, the latest in the Anthropic vs. DoD saga as tech workers at OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft sign on to a legal brief in support of Anthropic. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube , Apple Podcasts , Overcast , Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads , at @EquityPod. Topics AI , doge , Equity Video , Google acquisition , M&A , Meta , moltbook , Startups , Venture , wiz Theresa Loconsolo Audio Producer Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing theresa.loconsolo@techcrunch.com . View Bio June 9 Boston, MA Actively scaling? Fundraising? Planning your next launch? TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 delivers tactical playbooks and direct access to 1,000+ founders and investors who are building, backing, and closing. Register by March 13 to save up to $300. REGISTER NOW Most Popular Lovable says it added $100M in revenue last month alone, with just 146 employees Anna Heim DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive, report says Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai Meta acquired Moltbook, the AI agent social network that went viral because of fake posts Amanda Silberling Google rolls out new Gemini capabilities to Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive Aisha Malik Yann LeCun’s AMI Labs raises $1.03B to build world models Anna Heim Anthropic launches code review tool to check flood of AI-generated code Rebecca Bellan OpenAI hardware exec Caitlin Kalinowski quits in response to Pentagon deal Anthony Ha Newsletters See More Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news TechCrunch Daily News Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage. TechCrunch AI TechCrunch's AI experts cover the latest news in the fast-moving field. TechCrunch Space Every Monday, gets you up to speed on the latest advances in aerospace. Startups Weekly Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly. No newsletters selected. Subscribe By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . Related Enterprise How to watch Jensen Huang’s Nvidia GTC 2026 keynote Rebecca Szkutak 18 hours ago AI Sales automation startup Rox AI hits $1.2B valuation, sources say Marina Temkin 19 hours ago Commerce Facebook Marketplace now lets Meta AI respond to buyers’ messages Aisha Malik 23 hours ago