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The recent acquisition will combine solutions and expertise to deliver new cloud and AI capabilities across healthcare and several other industries, the Redmond-based company said.
Microsoft said on Monday it has agreed to acquire Nuance Communications, a cloud and artificial intelligence based software firm, in an all-cash transaction valued at $19.7 billion, including all debt.
The acquisition will combine the solutions and expertise to deliver new cloud and AI capabilities across healthcare and several other industries, and represent the latest step in Microsoft’s industry-specific cloud strategy, the Redmond-based company said.
“Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a Giant in the real-world application of enterprise AI,” Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, said in a statement. “AI is technology’s most important priority today, and the healthcare is its most urgent application.”
Nuance’s products include multiple clinical speech recognition softwares as a service (SaaS) offerings built on Microsoft Azure platform. The firm’s solutions work with core healthcare systems, and are currently used in 77% of U.S. hospitals, it stated in a press release.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance builds upon the existing partnership between the firms that was announced back in 2019, to help transform healthcare sector. Last year, the software giant had introduced Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare to address the needs of the rapidly transforming and growing healthcare sector.
“Together, with our partner ecosystem, we will put advanced AI solutions into the hands of professionals everywhere to drive better decision-making and create more meaningful connections with coordination, as we accelerate growth of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nuance,” said Nadella .
Beyond healthcare, Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions across Interactive Voice Response, virtual assistants, and digital security and bio-metric solutions.
Mark Benjamin will continue as Nuance’s CEO, and will be reporting to Scott Guthrie, VP, Cloud & AI at Microsoft, the company stated.
The deal is intended to close by the end of this year, and it would be Microsoft’s second-largest purchase after its 2016 acquisition of professional social media company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. Last month, Microsoft also acquired ZeniMax Media for $ 7.5 billion.
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