IBM buys Red Hat free software giant
The American firm IBM has just spent $ 34 billion to buy Red Hat is the world leader in open source, ie free software and distributor of Linux operating systems. This system is presented as an alternative to Microsoft licensed software.
This is the largest acquisition ever made by IBM, and the largest in the technology sector for the year 2018. Red Hat, leader of open source, invented a version of Linux, called GNU / Linux , an operating system whose software code is free and which is very popular with businesses.
Beyond accelerating its diversification, this acquisition is a necessity for IBM, which between 2012 and 2017 saw a sharp decline in its turnover. With this new acquisition, IBM is still more involved in the cloud and cyber security, a booming and very lucrative market.
IBM president Viginia Rometty says the acquisition will help her group become the world’s leading provider of hybrid cloud, a mix of data storage for carriers and its own servers.
The IBM-Red Hat transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019. To finance this acquisition, IBM plans to suspend all its planned share buyback programs in 2020 and 2021.