Google to Buy Analytics Firm Looker for $2.6bn

Google is to acquire business intelligence, data applications and embedded analytics provider Looker, in a deal valued at $2.6 billion in cash.

Santa Cruz, California-based Looker, which also has offices in San Francisco, New York, Boulder, Chicago, Dublin, Tokyo and London, provides a platform integrating data into the daily workflows of users. Looker already has Google parent company Alphabet as an investor, via its venture fund Capital G, and on completion of the acquisition will join the Google Cloud.

In a statement, Google said Looker will extend its business analytics offering by providing the ability to define business metrics in a consistent way across data sources. For users, it will offer a platform that delivers applications for business intelligence and use-case specific solutions such as sales analytics.

Thomas Kurian (pictured), CEO of Google Cloud, comments: '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. 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. We're thrilled to bring more robust data management solutions to our customers and look forward to welcoming the Looker team to Google Cloud'.

Web sites: www.google.com and www.looker.com .