IBM announced an $11 billion all-cash deal to acquire data-streaming firm Confluent, triggering a 29% surge in Confluent’s premarket shares on Monday. IBM shares dipped about 1%. The company will pay $31 per share, with the transaction expected to close by mid-2026.
IBM to Acquire Confluent to Create Smart Data Platform for Enterprise Generative AI
— AlphaSense (@AlphaSenseInc) December 8, 2025
"IBM (NYSE: $IBM) and Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ: $CFLT), the data streaming pioneer, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which IBM will acquire all of the issued and… pic.twitter.com/kjIpMPHA4h
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the acquisition will strengthen IBM’s AI capabilities by adding a “smart data platform” as global data volumes are projected to more than double by 2028.
The deal expands IBM’s push into cloud and AI infrastructure following its purchases of HashiCorp for $6.4 billion and Apptio for $4.6 billion.
We are excited that Confluent has entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by @IBM! Learn more here: https://t.co/KUYlXXXY9k pic.twitter.com/3LCDGUdlI2
— Confluent (@confluentinc) December 8, 2025
Confluent brings more than 6,500 enterprise customers and partnerships across AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Snowflake and Anthropic, positioning IBM to compete more aggressively in the data-infrastructure market.
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TIPP Staff
TIPP Staff
