Microsoft is reportedly in talks of acquiring AI firm Nuance Communications. According to CNBC‘s reportage, Microsoft and Nuance Communications might sign the deal as early as Sunday and further announce the news on Monday. To acquire the company, Microsoft is not afraid to go big.
Nuance Communications is a Massachusetts-based company specializing in artificial intelligent technology. Noted from Reuters, the company was involved in Apple Inc’s assistant Siri’s launching. Other than that, the company also ventures into healthcare and even the automotive industries software development. Though, its speech recognition and transcription technology contribute more to the company.
Quoted from CNBC, Nuance reported $7 million in net income with around $346 million in revenue in the fourth quarter. The company derives the figure from selling speech recognition and transcription technology in doctor’s visits as well as customer-service calls and voicemails.
The plan to acquire Nuance Communications is most likely a part of Microsoft’s plan to expand the company. Prior to the Nuance Communications acquisition, Microsoft had just taken over video game maker Zenimax through a deal costing $7.5 billion last month. Additionally, Microsoft also considered acquiring the US operations of the video-sharing app TikTok sometime around last year.
Judging from Nuance’s way to derive revenues, it seems that the company will contribute to Microsoft’s business that serves businesses and governments. Furthermore, Nuance is an additional boost to Microsoft’s voice software development segment.
Will the figure behind Apple’s Siri, Nuance Communications, join Microsoft?
The discussion to acquire Nuance has been ongoing since December. According to CNBC‘s source, Microsoft is willing to pay about $56 per share, tallying Nuance’s equity value to about $16 billion. The figure alone represents a 23$ premium over Nuance’s Friday closing price at $45.58 per share. If Microsoft manages to convince Nuance to agree with the deal, this will be Microsoft’s second-largest acquisition. The largest acquisition deal will remain with LinkedIn’s $27 billion purchase back in 2016.
At the moment, neither sides have revealed anything in relation to the deal.
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