IBM announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Weather Company’s B2B, mobile and cloud-based web properties, including WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company brand.
IBM said the combination of technology and expertise from the two companies will serve as the foundation for the new Watson IoT Unit and Watson IoT Cloud platform.
The acquisition is based on a $3 billion commitment made by IBM in March 2015 to invest in related offerings and services.
Meanwhile, the TV segment – The Weather Channel – will not be acquired by IBM, but will license weather forecast data and analytics from IBM under a long-term contract.
John Kelly, senior vice president, IBM Solutions Portfolio and Research said, The Weather Company’s data platform, coupled with IBM’s global cloud and the advanced cognitive computing capabilities of Watson, provide our clients significant competitive advantage as they link their business and sensor data with weather and other pertinent information in real time.
Upon closing, IBM will acquire The Weather Company product and technology assets that include meteorological data science experts, precision forecasting capabilities and a high-volume cloud platform that ingests, processes, analyzes and distributes enormous data sets at scale in real time.
The Weather Company and IBM formed a strategic alliance earlier this year to integrate real-time weather insights into business to improve operational performance and decision-making.
Earlier this year, The Weather Company announced plans to shift the massive weather data services platform that powers its B2B division to the IBM Cloud.
The Weather Company is owned by a consortium comprising the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, and NBCUniversal.
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory clearance and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.
Arya MM
