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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is acquiring data streaming platform Confluent to enhance its AI offerings.
The deal, worth a total of $11 billion (9.44 billion euros), will see IBM pay $31 per share in cash, about a 34% premium to Confluent's Friday closing price.
The transaction is expected to close by mid-2026, according to a statement released Monday.
“IBM and Confluent's partnership will enable enterprises to better and faster deploy generative and agent AI by providing reliable communications and data flows,” said Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM.
Jay Kreps, CEO of Confluent, added: “I'm excited about the opportunity to join IBM and leverage IBM's go-to-market expertise, global reach, and broad portfolio to accelerate our strategy.”
Confluent, a data streaming platform, is responsible for the technical infrastructure behind AI systems.
Specifically, Confluent allows businesses to move and process information quickly, providing technology that combines with IBM's proprietary AI software.
Confluence's customers include ticketing company Ticketmaster, grocery delivery company Instacart, and tire manufacturer Michelin.
IBM said on Monday that it expects the continued adoption of AI to more than double the amount of global data by 2028, increasing demand on IT departments.
Under CEO Arvind Krishna, the company has strengthened its AI offerings and acquired a number of software companies.
Earlier this year, IBM completed its acquisition of cloud company HashiCorp in a deal worth $6.4 billion (5.5 billion euros). In its biggest deal to date, IBM acquired software company Red Hat in 2019 for about $34 billion (29.18 billion euros).
Confluent's market value was around $8 billion (6.87 billion euros) as of Friday, while IBM's market value was around $290 billion (248.93 billion euros).
