Panasonic to buy AI software firm for $7.1bn
By Bloomberg
By Manuel Baigorri, Liana Baker, Yuki Furukawa
Panasonic Corp. has agreed to take over U.S. artificial intelligence software developer Blue Yonder for $7.1 billion in one of the biggest acquisitions for the Japanese firm.
Panasonic, which already has a 20% stake in Blue Yonder, will buy the rest of the AI firm s shares from New Mountain Capital and funds managed by Blackstone Group Inc. for $5.6 billion, according to a statement on Friday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Including repayment of outstanding debt, Panasonic s total investment will amount to $7.1 billion.
The announcement came less than a year after Panasonic acquired the minority stake in Blue Yonder for $800 million, giving the AI firm an enterprise value of $5.5 billion. Panasonic s latest buyout offer will value the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company at $8.5 billion.
Microsoft is poised to make its biggest acquisition since LinkedIn
Microsoft is making a massive bet on health-care artificial intelligence.
The software giant is set to buy Nuance Communications, tapping the company tied to the Siri voice technology to overhaul solutions that free doctors from note-taking and better predict a patient’s needs. Microsoft may announce the deal as soon as Monday if talks are successful, according to people familiar with the matter.
The price being discussed could value Nuance at about US$56/share, a 23% premium to Friday’s close, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Set to be Microsoft’s largest acquisition since LinkedIn, the purchase would give Nuance an equity value of about $16-billion.