Microsoft buying speech recognition firm Nuance in USD 16 bn deal

New York: Microsoft, on an accelerated growth push, is buying speech recognition company Nuance in a deal worth about USD 16 billion.

Microsoft will pay USD 56.00 per share cash. That’s a 23 percent premium to Nuance”s Friday closing price. The companies value the transaction at USD 19.7 billion, including debt.

Shares of Nuance surge about 23 percent in Monday premarket trading.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance comes after the companies formed a partnership in 2019.

The Redmond, Washington, company said that the deal will double its total addressable market in the health care provider industry, bringing its total addressable market in health care to nearly USD 500 billion.

The transaction is Microsoft”s second-largest deal following its USD 26 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016. Last September, it bought for video game maker ZeniMax for USD 7.5 billion.

Mark Benjamin will continue as Nuance CEO.

The transaction is expected to close this year. It still needs approval from Nuance shareholders.