Microsoft to purchase AI giant Nuance for $19.7 billion
Updated April 12, 2021: Microsoft officially announced an agreement to purchase Nuance for $19.7. This deal was suspected leading up to the official announcemment but has now been confirmed by Microsoft. The article has been updated accordingly.
Microsoft officially announced an agreement to purchase Nuance Communications Inc., an artificial intelligence and speech technology company. Before the official announcement, reports about the discussions between Microsoft and Nuance were reported by Bloomberg. The deal is worth $19.7, which is higher than suspected before the deal was officially announced. At $19.7 billion, it is one of Microsoft’s largest acquisitions ever.
Nuance worked on the tech that powers the voice aspect of Apple’s Siri assistant and makes the well-known Dragon speech-recognition software. Microsoft has also worked with Nuance since 2019. Microsoft’s collaboration with Nuance includes utilizing AI to help doctors capture and record medical information from patients.
Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI. AI is technology’s most important priority, and healthcare is its most urgent application. Together, with our partner ecosystem, we will put advanced AI solutions into the hands of professionals everywhere to drive better decision-making and create more meaningful connections, as we accelerate growth of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nuance.
The deal values Nuance at $56 per share, which implies a 23% premium to the closing price of Nuance from Friday, April 9. The total value of the deal is higher than the suspected value of $16 billion before official news about the agreement was announced. The deal falls short of Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion but is still be one of Microsoft’s largest acquisitions ever.
Microsoft has a Tech Center next to Nuance’s headquarters in Massachusetts, so Microsoft is close to Nuance in both technological goals and physical proximity.
A CNBC report states that Microsoft first approached Nuance in December.
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