Microsoft will buy artificial intelligence and speech technology firm Nuance Communications for about $ 16 billion (£ 12 billion) as it builds the cloud computing industry for healthcare and business customers.
Known as a pioneer in speech technology and the launch of Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, Nuance operates in 28 countries and reported revenue of $ 1.5 billion in its last full financial year.
The Massachusetts company said it serves 77% of U.S. hospitals, including clinical speech recognition, medical transcription and medical imaging.
The agreement comes after the companies entered into a partnership in 2019 to automate clinical administrative work such as documentation.
Microsoft’s offer of $ 56 per share represents a premium of 22.86% on Nuance’s most recent closing price. Nuance shares rose 16.8% to $ 53.24 in New York on Monday.
The deal follows Microsoft’s recent $ 7.5 billion acquisition of gaming company ZeniMax Media, and reports that negotiations have been underway to buy the Discord messaging platform, which will also enable live audio streaming.
An agreement for Nuance is Microsoft’s second largest after acquiring LinkedIn for $ 26.2 billion in 2016.