By Chris Eudaily
Publication Date: 2025-12-08 13:00:00
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna speaks at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, on March 11, 2025.
Andy Wenstrand | Sxsw Conference & Festivals | Getty Images
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.
Tune in at 10 a.m. ET as IBM CEO Arvind Krishna joins CNBC TV to discuss the deal. Watch in real time on CNBC+ or the CNBC Pro stream.
IBM said the deal will bolster its artificial intelligence offerings as it expects global data growth to more than double by 2028.
The addition of…