IBM announces $11 billion acquisition of Confluent AI.

  • IBM said it is acquiring Confluent in a deal worth $11 billion.
  • The addition of Confluence will strengthen IBM’s artificial intelligence portfolio.
  • IBM will pay $31 per share in cash for all of the issued and outstanding common shares of the company.

IBM
announced Monday that it is acquiring data streaming platform Confluent
in a deal worth $11 billion.

Shares of Confluent soared 29% premarket. IBM stock sank about 1%.

IBM will pay $31 per share in cash for all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Confluent, according to a release. The transaction is expected to close by the middle of 2026. Shares of Confluent closed at $23.14 on Friday.

“With the acquisition of Confluent, IBM will provide the smart data platform for enterprise IT, purpose-built for AI,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a release.

IBM said the deal will bolster its artificial intelligence offerings as it expects global data growth to more than double by 2028.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/08/ibm-confluent-deal-data.html