Google has announced that it has completed its USD 2.6 billion buyout of data analytics startup Looker. The tech giant said that Looker is now part of the Google Cloud as the deal has been officially closed. This is a big decision in a couple of ways. First of all USD 2.6 billion is a lot of money and secondly, the deal is the major acquisition under the leadership of newly appointed CEO Thomas Kurian. Kurian was appointed as the chief executive officer of Google Cloud in early 2019. Google had earlier stated that the acquisition was developed on the existing partnership with Looker where both the companies provide services to more than 350 joint customers. Some of the customers are Hearst, Buzzfeed, Sunrun, King and Yahoo!.
Kurian seems to be happy with Looker officially becoming part of the Google family. He, however, clarified that the data analytics startup will continue to provide support to several cloud vendors. “Looker and Google cloud have a common philosophy of providing open solutions and support to customers wherever they are,” Kurian said in a blog. Kurian said that more and more companies are choosing a multi-cloud strategy and Looker will continue to provide its partners and customers support of all cloud data management systems.
Looker CEO Frank Bien said that he is extremely proud to officially join Google Cloud after a successful partnership of four years. The partnership helped both the companies understand the technology synergies and cultural similarities between them, Bien said. He added that the deal will give them access to resources that will help them to grow much faster than Looker could have on its own. Bien said the deal will best minds in the field of cloud infrastructure and analytics together which helps in building an exciting path forward for partners and customers. The deal was announced in June was meant to close by the end of last year. Santa Cruz-headquartered data analytics startup was founded in 2011. It soon raised USD 280 million from investors. Meritech Capital Partners, Redpoint, Kleiner Perkins, Premjilnvest and CapitalG were some of the investors. Looker was valued at USD 1.6 billion before the deal.