IBM Corporation has reached an agreement to acquire Confluent, a company specializing in solutions for processing streaming data using the Apache Kafka platform. Confluent, founded in 2014 by the creators of Apache Kafka, achieved a market capitalization of $10 billion after going public in 2021. The acquisition deal with IBM is valued at $11 billion, equivalent to $31 per share. It is worth mentioning that Apache Kafka was originally developed by LinkedIn as an internal tool before being open sourced and transferred to the Apache Foundation in 2011. In 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26 billion.
Following the completion of the acquisition, Confluent will operate as a separate division under IBM and will retain its brand identity. The collaboration between IBM and Confluent aims to establish a data processing platform tailored for implementing AI solutions, enabling real-time processing of streaming data and simplifying cloud and microservices data access. The platform will facilitate the integration of applications, analytics platforms, AI agents, storage, and data processing systems to enhance functionality and resilience in hybrid cloud environments.