IBM of Armonk, NY and Raleigh, NC-based Red Hat announced on July 9 that they have closed the transaction under which IBM acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for $190.00 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of approximately $34 billion.
The
acquisition redefines the cloud market for business. Red Hat’s open hybrid
cloud technologies are now paired with the unmatched scale and depth of IBM’s
innovation and industry expertise, and sales leadership in more than 175
countries. Together, IBM and Red Hat will accelerate innovation by offering a
next-generation hybrid multicloud platform. Based on open source technologies,
such as Linux and Kubernetes, the platform will allow businesses to securely
deploy, run and manage data and applications on-premises and on private and
multiple public clouds.
“Businesses
are starting the next chapter of their digital reinventions, modernizing
infrastructure and moving mission-critical workloads across private clouds and
multiple clouds from multiple vendors,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman,
president and CEO. “They need open, flexible technology to manage these
hybrid multicloud environments. And they need partners they can trust to manage
and secure these systems. IBM and Red Hat are uniquely suited to meet these
needs. As the leading hybrid cloud provider, we will help clients forge the
technology foundations of their business for decades to come.”
“When
we talk to customers, their challenges are clear: They need to move faster and
differentiate through technology. They want to build more collaborative
cultures, and they need solutions that give them the flexibility to build and
deploy any app or workload, anywhere,” said Jim Whitehurst, president and
CEO, Red Hat. “We think open source has become the de facto standard in
technology because it enables these solutions. Joining forces with IBM gives
Red Hat the opportunity to bring more open source innovation to an even broader
range of organizations and will enable us to scale to meet the need for hybrid
cloud solutions that deliver true choice and agility.”
Red Hat will continue to be led by Jim Whitehurst and its current management team. Whitehurst is joining IBM’s senior management team, reporting to Ginni Rometty. IBM will maintain Red Hat’s headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, its facilities, brands and practices. Red Hat will operate as a distinct unit within IBM and will be reported as part of IBM’s Cloud and Cognitive Software segment.
Sources: IBM and Red Hat
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