Google Cloud's new CEO explains why it's spending $2.6 billion to acquire Looker, a startup that competes with Tableau and Domo

Google

Looker CEO Frank Bien (left) and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian (right)

• Google Cloud is acquiring Looker, a data analytics company, for $2.6 billion in cash.
• Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said on Thursday that the deal gives its customers better tools for making sense of all of the massive amounts of data they hold - whether that data is stored on Google Cloud itself or with rivals like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure.
• Looker CEO Frank Bien said that he's "committed for the long term," as Looker joins Google Cloud.
• Kurian said that this deal doesn't represent any kind of antitrust issue: Customers aren't locked in to using Looker, and the company never plans to cut off its compatibility with competing cloud platforms.
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Google Cloud on Thursday announced its intent to acquire Looker, a data analytics startup, for $2.6 billion in cash.

Looker, founded in 2012, helps its customers analyze and make sense of huge amounts of data. In press materials discussing the acquisition, Google says that some 350 mutual customers, including Blue Apron and Hearst, are already using Looker to visualize and otherwise analyze the tremendous amounts of data generated by their businesses.

Indeed, on a call with press and analysts on Thursday, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian highlighted how Looker is a natural fit with BigQuery, the search giant's own data analysis platform. While BigQuery can crunch huge amounts of data, Looker makes it easy to visualize that output, or integrate it with other apps like Salesforce or Slack.

"Looker has worked with us for many years as a partner, and it forms a foundation for people to build data-driven applications, and serve insights to everybody in their organization," Kurian said. "We now have the ability to offer customers an end-to-end solution," he later added.

Of note is that Kurian says that Looker will retain its compatibility with cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, both of which compete with Google Cloud. Similarly, Kurian says, Google will allow customers to choose to use any data visualization and reporting tool that they'd like, whether or not that's Looker.

"We will continue to provide our customers with choice," says Kurian.

This isn't Kurian's first acquisition since taking over Google Cloud earlier this year, but it's definitely his biggest. The purchase price reflects a premium over Looker's last private valuation of $1.6 billion, which it achieved at the time it last raised funding in December.

Google

A slide from Google Cloud's deck announcing the acquisition, showing where it sees Looker fitting in to the grand scheme.

At that time, Looker CEO Frank Bien told Business Insider that its revenues were growing 70% year-over-year, that it was on a $100 million run rate, and that it had some 600 employees. It competes most directly with the likes of Tableau and Domo, both public companies - though it's sometimes also compared to the likes of Microsoft PowerBI.

All told, Looker had raised some $280 million from investors including CapitalG (formerly Google Capital), Goldman Sachs, and Kleiner Perkins. It counts companies like Cisco, Amazon, and Sony as customers.

"We're clearly one of the fastest-growing data analytics companies in history," Bien said on the call on Thursday.

Under the new structure, Bien will report to Kurian, and Google says that it will "welcome the Looker org to the Google Cloud team," after the deal closes. It expects to get the necessary approvals to complete the transaction later this year, Kurian said.

"I'm committed for the long term to realize this mission that we've been following since the beginning," says Bien.

The deal comes as Google and other tech giants come under increased regulatory scrutiny, as the US Department of Justice is said to be preparing a potential antitrust probe into the search giant. However, in response to a question from a reporter, Kurian said that this sizable acquisition shouldn't sound any alarm bells.

He points out that there are "a large number of analytics companies," and, indeed, both Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure have products that compete with Looker in whole or in part.

"[The acquisition] represents a strengthening of our position relative to other players in the market," said Kurian.

He also says that it's good for customers, who have asked Google for tighter integrations with Looker - and that, again, its cloud customers can choose whether to use Looker or not.

As for whether or not Google ever plans to cut off Looker's integrations with outside clouds and services, Kurian had a flat denial.

"No. Period," he said.

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