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- Google is acquiring Looker, a California-based data-analysis startup, in a $2.6 billion all-cash transaction that’s expected to close later this year.
- Looker will join Google Cloud once the acquisition is complete, Google said Thursday in a statement.
- Watch Alphabet trade live.
Google is acquiring Looker, a California-based data-analysis startup, in a $2.6 billion all-cash transaction, Google said Thursday in a statement. The deal is the first major acquisition for Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, who joined the company in January after spending more than two decades at Oracle.
“Looker extends our business analytics offering with two important capabilities — first, the ability to define business metrics once in a consistent way across data sources,” Kurian said.
“Second, Looker also provides users with a powerful analytics platform that delivers applications for business intelligence and use-case specific solutions such as Sales Analytics, as well as a flexible, embedded analytics product to collaborate on business decisions,” Kurian added.
Google’s acquisition of Looker, which was founded in 2012, is expected to close later this year, pending regulatory approvals. Once the deal closes, the Santa Cruz-based Looker will join Google Cloud. The Looker deal is Google’s largest since its $3.2 billion Nest acquisition in 2014.
Some experts had expected Kurian to oversee deals like this one.
As he was set to take the reins of Google Cloud earlier this year, industry analysts and insiders told Business Insider’s Becky Peterson that Kurian was likely to execute large acquisitions. He’d replaced former Google Cloud head Diane Greene, who was at the helm for three years.
Read more: Insiders say Google’s new cloud boss is likely to make some very large acquisitions
Looker in December raised $103 million in a Series E funding round that valued it at $1.6 billion, Business Insider’s Rosalie Chan reported.
Earlier this year Business Insider named Looker “44 enterprise startups to bet your career on in 2019,” pointing to its business intelligence data that’s easy to analyze.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet traded modestly lower Thursday, just over $1,041. Alphabet shares are little changed so far this year, underperforming the broader market.
