IBM buys software company Red Hat for US$34b in bid for cloud dominance

• October 30 2018
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/ibm-buys-software-company-red-hat-for-us-34b-in-bid-for-cloud-dominance_148209

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — IBM said yesterday it has reached a deal to buy open source software company Red Hat for US$34 billion, among the biggest tech mergers in history which the computing giant said would enhance its cloud offerings.

If approved it will be the third-biggest tech merger of all time, according to business news site CNBC. Red Hat said it was the biggest involving a software company.

The deal will see IBM acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for US$190 per share in cash, more than US$70 above the US$116.68 at which Red Hat was trading at close of business Friday.

“The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM's chairman, president and CEO.

“IBM will become the world's number one hybrid cloud provider, offering companies the only open cloud solution that will unlock the full value of the cloud for their businesses.”

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services, including storage and software, over the Internet to achieve economies of scale.

Hybrid cloud relates to the linking of public and private cloud platforms.