IBM nears $11 billion Confluent deal to boost cloud push, WSJ reports

Dec 7 (Reuters) - IBM (IBM) is successful precocious talks to get data-infrastructure institution Confluent (CFLT) for astir $11 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported connected ​Sunday, successful a determination aimed astatine boosting Big Blue's quality ‌to seizure increasing request for unreality services.

The woody for Confluent, an open-source level utilized to process ‌massive streams of real-time information - from slope transactions to website clicks - could beryllium announced arsenic aboriginal arsenic Monday, the paper reported, citing unnamed sources.

Reuters could not instantly verify the WSJ report. Both companies did not instantly respond to a ⁠request for remark extracurricular ‌normal concern hours.

In October, Reuters reported that Confluent is weighing a imaginable merchantability and has tapped an concern slope to ‍manage the process aft drafting involvement from prospective buyers.

Confluent holds a marketplace capitalization of astir $8.09 billion, arsenic per LSEG-compiled data, portion New York-based IBM is valued astatine astir $287.84 ​billion.

Investors grew cautious aft IBM reported slower maturation successful its halfway unreality ‌software concern successful October, raising concerns astir the company's quality to support momentum. Analysts said IBM volition request stronger bundle show to support wide maturation connected track.

IBM's acquisition strategy remains a cardinal absorption for gathering investors' expectations. Last year, the institution bought HashiCorp successful a $6.4 cardinal deal, expanding its cloud-based ⁠offerings to seizure rising request fueled by ​artificial intelligence.

Under Chief Executive Arvind Krishna, IBM has ​sharpened its absorption connected software, aiming to capitalize connected accrued spending connected unreality services.

The involvement successful Confluent highlights a surge successful ‍demand for information ⁠infrastructure companies, fueled by the firm contention to make generative artificial intelligence. In May, Salesforce agreed to get bundle shaper Informatica for astir $8 ⁠billion to bolster its AI capabilities.

Shares of Mountain View, California-based Confluent closed little astatine $23.14 connected ‌Friday.

(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman, Anusha Shah, Mrinmay Dey successful Bengaluru; Editing ‌by Sonia Cheema and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)