Over the weekend, allegations circulated in the media that Microsoft was looking to acquire Nuance Communications, a company focused on cloud and artificial intelligence products for healthcare. And we didn’t have to wait long for these claims to come true. Microsoft announced that it has acquired Nuance for $19.7 billion, including net debt. This announcement led to a significant increase in the company’s shares.
Nuance’s products include Dragon Ambient eXperience, Dragon Medical One and PowerScribe One, all speech recognition services powered by Microsoft Azure.
Nuance’s health-focused products are widely used in the United States and are preferred by 55 percent of physicians and 75 percent of radiologists. However, the company’s only field of activity is not health services. For example, it also helps Apple’s Siri; offers solutions in the field of artificial intelligence and customer engagement.
The acquisition has reportedly been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. All transactions are expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Mark Benjamin will continue to serve as Nuance CEO and will report to Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie.
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