Microsoft acquires speech recognition company Nuance for $16 billion

Microsoft's Nuance deal is valued at $16 billion, in addition to $3 billion in debt.

Donovan Erskine

April 12, 2021 9:05 AM

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With as much capital as it has to swing around, Microsoft is always a name to look out for in the world of major business acquisitions. Now, the company has added yet another major name to its arsenal, as Microsoft has announced that it’s acquiring speech recognition company Nuance Communications for a whopping $16 billion.

Microsoft announced the acquisition via its webstite on April 12, 2021. As for the specifics, Microsoft is purchasing Nuance at $56 per share, which is a 23% increase from the company’s closing price at the end of Friday, April 9. While the buying price is $16 billion, Microsoft will also assume Nuance’s debt, putting the total at $19 billion.

“Nuance is a trusted cloud and AI software leader representing decades of accumulated healthcare and enterprise AI experience,” the statement reads. Though Microsoft will now have full control of Nuance, it won’t be shuffling the company’s internal hierarchy. Mark Benjamin will continue to serve as CEO but will now report to Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Cloud & AI.

Microsoft states that its acquisition of Nuance is the latest step in the company’s cloud strategy in the healthcare industry. “By augmenting the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare with Nuance’s solutions, as well as the benefit of Nuance’s expertise and relationships with EHR systems providers, Microsoft will be better able to empower healthcare providers through the power of ambient clinical intelligence and other Microsoft cloud services.”

Although Microsoft and Nuance Communications have agreed to a deal, it still needs to get government clearance before it’s made official. Microsoft states that it expects the deal to close this calendar year. Visit the Microsoft topic page on Shacknews for more out of the tech company.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_