Google LLC has entered into an agreement to acquire Looker, a unified platform for business intelligence, data applications, and embedded analytics, in a $2.6 billion all-cash transaction. Upon the close of the acquisition, Looker will join Google Cloud.
In a blog post announcing the purchase, Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud, said that Looker extends Google Cloud’s business analytics offering with two important capabilities: the ability to define business metrics once in a consistent way across data sources, which makes it easy for anyone to query data while maintaining consistent definitions in their calculations, ensuring teams get accurate results; and second, an analytics platform that delivers applications for BI and use-case specific solutions such as sales analytics, plus an embedded analytics product to collaborate on business decisions.
“The addition of Looker to Google Cloud will help us offer customers a more complete analytics solution from ingesting data to visualizing results and integrating data and insights into their daily workflows,” said Kurian. “It will also help us deliver industry specific analytics solutions in our key verticals, whether that’s supply chain analytics in retailing; media analytics in entertainment; or healthcare analytics at global scale."
With data still remaining an untapped resource for many organizations and businesses, the addition of Looker to Google Cloud will provide customers with a more comprehensive analytics solution—from ingesting and integrating data to gain insights, to embedded analytics and visualizations—enabling enterprises to leverage analytics, machine learning, and AI.
“Google Cloud is being used by many of the leading organizations in the world for analytics and decision-making. The combination of Google Cloud and Looker will enable customers to harness data in new ways to drive their digital transformation,” said Kurian. “We remain committed to our multi-cloud strategy and will retain and expand Looker’s capabilities to analyze data across clouds.”
This acquisition builds on an existing partnership where the two companies share more than 350 joint customers, such as Buzzfeed, Hearst, King, Sunrun, WPP Essence, and Yahoo!. The acquisition of Looker is expected to be complete later this year and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals.