Overview
- IBM will pay $31 per share in cash for all outstanding Confluent stock, valuing the deal at about $11 billion and representing roughly a 34% premium to the last close.
- The companies signed a definitive agreement with closing targeted for mid‑2026, pending Confluent shareholder approval and regulatory clearance.
- IBM said it will fund the acquisition with cash on hand and expects the deal to lift adjusted earnings in the first full year and increase free cash flow in year two.
- Confluent’s platform, created by the team behind Apache Kafka, connects, processes and governs data in real time for thousands of enterprise customers across sectors.
- On the announcement, Confluent shares rose about 29% in premarket trading, while IBM stock edged lower.