IBM CEO Arvind Krishna speaks at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2025.
Andy Wenstrand | Sxsw Conference & Festival | Getty Images
IBM announced on Monday that it would acquire a data streaming platform. Confluence In a deal worth $11 billion.
Confluent’s stock price soared 29%. IBM stock rose about 1%.
According to the release, IBM will pay $31 per share in cash for all of Confluent’s outstanding common stock. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2026. On Friday, Confluent stock closed at $23.14.
“With the acquisition of Confluent, IBM will provide enterprise IT with a smart data platform purpose-built for AI,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a release.
IBM said the partnership will strengthen its artificial intelligence offerings as it expects global data growth to more than double by 2028.
Wedbush said this is a “strong move” by IBM that adds more data processing capabilities to its hybrid cloud ecosystem and is a natural fit to eliminate data silos to power AI.
“We loudly applaud this deal as Mr. Arvind moves IBM further into the AI revolution with the potential for more acquisitions in the future,” analysts said in a note.
Wedbush maintained an Overweight rating and $325 price target on IBM. IBM’s Friday closing price was $307.94.
The addition of Confluent coincides with IBM’s deal last year to acquire cloud software maker HashiCorp for $6.4 billion, and its move to acquire Apptio in 2023 in a deal worth $4.6 billion. Both of these acquisitions were all-cash transactions.
Confluent has more than 6,500 clients across major industries, including Anthropic, AmazonAWS, google cloud platform, microsoft, snowflake And others.
Confluent’s 1-day stock price chart.
