Microsoft is in advanced talks to acquire speech-recognition company Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) in a deal worth $16 billion U.S.
The Nuance Communications acquisition could be announced as early as Monday and illustrates Microsoft’s recent efforts to expand through deals. Last month, Microsoft completed a $7.5 billion U.S. acquisition of video game maker Zenimax.
Nuance would boost Microsoft’s business that serves businesses and governments. Nuance sells tools for recognizing and transcribing speech in doctor’s visits, customer-service calls and voicemails.
Nuance Communications reported $7 million U.S. in net income on about $346 million U.S. in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, with revenue declining 4% on an annualized basis. Nuance was founded in 1992 and had 7,100 employees as of September 2020.
Microsoft is reportedly willing to pay $56 U.S. per share for Nuance. That would give Nuance an equity value of about $16 billion U.S., representing a 23% premium over the stock’s recent closing price of $45.58 U.S. per share.
At $16 billion U.S., Nuance Communications would be Microsoft’s second largest acquisition, after the $27 billion U.S. it paid to purchase LinkedIn in 2016.
