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Google’s $32 Billion Acquisition of Wiz Faces U.S. Antitrust Review, Bloomberg Reports

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The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing Google’s planned $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz to determine if the deal could unlawfully reduce competition in the marketplace, according to Bloomberg News citing sources familiar with the matter.

This acquisition would be Alphabet’s largest to date and aims to integrate Wiz into Google’s cloud division, bolstering its cybersecurity offerings for enterprise customers to manage critical risks.

Both Google and the DOJ declined to comment, and Wiz did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request. The deal reportedly gained momentum after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, amid expectations of a more favorable antitrust environment.

Executives at Wiz reportedly remained cautious following the collapse of Adobe’s $20 billion attempt to buy Figma due to antitrust challenges in late 2023. Google has agreed to pay Wiz over $3.2 billion if the deal fails to close.

Trump’s appointments of Andrew Ferguson as FTC chair and Gail Slater to oversee DOJ antitrust reviews reportedly increased confidence in a smoother regulatory process.

This scrutiny arrives as Google also faces ongoing DOJ lawsuits alleging monopoly abuses in online search and advertising technology markets. In April, a U.S. judge ruled Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in publisher ad servers and ad exchange markets.

Google Resolves Global Service Outage Affecting Multiple Platforms

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Alphabet’s Google announced on Thursday that it had resolved a brief global outage that disrupted several of its core services, including Google Chat, Google Meet, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Cloud Search, Google Tasks, and Google Voice.

The disruption also impacted third-party platforms reliant on Google Cloud infrastructure, such as music streaming service Spotify and messaging app Discord, as well as Snapchat. The outage began around 1:50 p.m. ET and caused widespread service interruptions across multiple regions.

At the peak of the outage, tracking website Downdetector.com recorded approximately 46,000 outage reports for Spotify and nearly 11,000 reports for Discord in the U.S. alone. Google Cloud’s engineering teams worked swiftly to mitigate the issue, and by 6:18 p.m. ET, outage reports had significantly decreased to just over 1,000 for Spotify and around 200 for Discord.

Google stated it will publish a detailed analysis after completing an internal investigation into the incident.

Trump to Join AI and Energy Summit in Pittsburgh with Tech and Energy Leaders

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U.S. President Donald Trump will attend an artificial intelligence and energy summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 15, according to an announcement from the office of Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Dave McCormick. The inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit will take place at Carnegie Mellon University.

The event is expected to gather top executives from both the tech and energy industries. Axios reported that the guest list includes high-profile tech leaders such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Leading figures from the energy sector such as Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods, Shell CEO Wael Sawan, and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth are also expected to attend.

White House AI czar David Sacks is scheduled to participate as well. Earlier this week, Sacks voiced concerns that excessive regulation of artificial intelligence in the U.S. could hinder industry growth and give China a competitive advantage in the global AI market. His comments suggest that the Trump administration may adopt a more expansionist policy for U.S. AI companies, focusing on boosting international markets for American AI chips and models.

This approach contrasts with that of Democratic former President Joe Biden, who emphasized strict controls to prevent U.S. AI chips from being used to strengthen China’s military capabilities.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of 40 state attorneys general, including Republicans from Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah, and Virginia, have pushed back against federal efforts to limit state-level AI regulations. They argue that states should retain the authority to develop and enforce consumer protection rules for AI technologies.

The Pittsburgh summit signals the increasing intersection of AI policy, energy strategy, and international trade considerations in U.S. political and economic debates as AI continues to reshape multiple sectors.