IBM spends $4.6 billion in cash to buy a software company

IBM will spend $4.6 billion in cash to acquire Apptio. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2023, comes as businesses cut back on technology budgets due to macroeconomic conditions. IBM itself laid off 3,900 people earlier this year, and first-quarter revenue rose just 1% year-over-year.

IBM wants to offer more modern products and services. (Photo: Reuters)

The acquisition of Apptio – a SaaS company with more than 1,500 customers and partnerships with giants like AWS and Salesforce – will benefit IBM’s Red Hat division, AI portfolio and consulting division. In an interview with Reuters, Vice President Rob Thomas said that IBM will look for opportunities in the software and consulting sectors in the future.

IBM, a century-old company, is reorienting itself to focus on AI and cloud-based services. In 2019, it bought software provider Red Hat for $34 billion, its largest deal ever. Two years later, it spun off its data center and IT infrastructure division, Kyndryl Holdings. In 2022, it will sell some of its health data and analytics assets.

Apptio was founded in 2007 to help businesses manage their cloud spending and provide features like IT budgeting, forecasting, and financial analytics. Apptio's revenue was $233 million in 2018 and is expected to grow 11-13% annually.

Before being sold to IBM, Apptio belonged to Vista Equity Partners, which spent $1.94 billion to take Apptio private in 2018.

(According to Reuters)

Big Tech Cuts Costs, Focuses on AI Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta all highlighted huge investments in large language models (LLM), the technology behind popular chatbots like ChatGPT.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ibm-chi-4-6-ty-usd-tien-mat-mua-mot-hang-phan-mem-2158682.html