TEL AVIV, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Israeli startup Wiz said on

Thursday it had named veteran executive Fazal Merchant as

president and chief financial officer to keep driving the cloud

security firm's growth and prepare for a U.S. share offering in

about a year's time.

Wiz last July rebuffed a reported $23 billion takeover deal

by Google-parent Alphabet that would have made it the

U.S. tech giant's largest-ever acquisition. At the time, Wiz CEO

Assaf Rappaport said the company would focus on an initial

public offering and its goal of achieving an annual recurring

revenue of $1 billion.

Industry sources said Wiz currently has annual revenue of

about $500 million, as it has grown substantially since its

founding in 2020 with half of the Fortune 100 companies as its

customers.