Microsoft To Acquire Speech-Recognition Firm 'Nuance Communications' for Around $16 Billion: Report
Microsoft is reportedly acquiring speech-recognition company Nuance Communications for nearly $16 billion and the deal could be announced on Monday (US time). Microsoft first approached Nuance in December last year.
San Francisco: Microsoft is reportedly acquiring speech-recognition company Nuance Communications for nearly $16 billion and the deal could be announced on Monday (US time), the media reported. According to a CNBC report citing sources on Sunday, Microsoft first approached Nuance in December last year. At about $56 per share for Nuance, the acquisition value could be nearly $16 billion. Microsoft Ends Support for Cortana on Android & iOS Devices.
"We continued to advance our strategic initiatives, accelerating our cloud transition across our core platforms in Healthcare and focusing on our AI-first approach in Enterprise. In Healthcare, we saw solid performance in our cloud-based offerings, growing cloud revenue 28 per cent year-over-year," said Mark Benjamin, CEO at Nuance.
At $16 billion, Nuance would be Microsoft's second largest acquisition after LinkedIn that the company bought in 2016 for $27 billion. According to the report, Nuance could expand Microsoft's capabilities in voice software. Nuance is a US multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, that provides speech recognition and artificial intelligence.
Nuance merged with its competitor in the commercial large-scale speech application business, ScanSoft, in October 2005. ScanSoft was a Xerox spin-off that was bought in 1999 by Visioneer, a hardware and software scanner company, which adopted ScanSoft as the new merged company name. Today, Nuance leads innovation in conversational AI, making intuitive, award-winning technology that adapts to each business and every unique situation. The company reported $7 million in net income ($346 million in revenue) for its first quarter that ended December 31, 2020.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 12, 2021 12:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).