Microsoft Buys AI Company Nuance In $19.7 Billion Deal, Its Second-Biggest Ever After LinkedIn

Microsoft has made yet another multi-billion dollar acquisition. Just a month after Microsoft's $7.5 billion deal to buy ZeniMax closed, the technology giant has now purchased the AI company Nuance at a price of $56 per share, which works out to $19.7 billion. Microsoft clearly sees a lot of value in Nuance, as it paid a 23% premium on the price of Nuance's shares. The acquisition was an all-cash deal that is expected to close this year.

Nuance CEO Mark Benjamin will remain CEO, and he will report to Microsoft cloud and AI boss Scott Guthrie going forward.

Microsoft has been working with Nuance since 2019, when it started using Nuance's technology for healthcare. "By augmenting the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare with Nuance's solutions, as well as the benefit of Nuance's expertise and relationships with EHR systems providers, Microsoft will be better able to empower healthcare providers through the power of ambient clinical intelligence and other Microsoft cloud services," Microsoft said.

In purchasing Nuance, Microsoft grows its footprint in the healthcare space to almost $500 billion, the company said.

Outside of healthcare, Nuance's AI and "customer engagement solutions" cover things like virtual assistants, interactive voice response technology, and digital and biometric software across multiple industries.

At $19.7 billion, Nuance represents one of Microsoft's largest acquisitions ever. It's second only to the $26.2 billion that Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn back in 2016.