Microsoft Gains EU Approval of its $16B Nuance Acquisition

Microsoft Corporation earned the unconditional antitrust approval of the European Commission for its $16.00 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications. 

Accordingly, the board noted that the announced consent of the agreement would not open competition worries in the European economic area. 

They concluded that the acquisition would not significantly decrease rivalry in transcription software, cloud, and enterprise communication services markets.

Their investigation examined issues, including the overlap between Microsoft and Nuance’s transcription software activities. 

Correspondingly, they observed that the companies offer different products. 

In the stated case, Microsoft would continue to face intense competition from other players even with the said union.

The approved deal is the second biggest purchase of the global tech firm. This mainly aims to boost the presence of Microsoft in cloud services for healthcare.

In addition, the agreement has already gained regulatory approval in the United States and Australia. 

Last 2016, the highly-valued business made its $26.20 billion LinkedIn accession. 

Nuance has a solid focus on the healthcare industry and customer engagement solutions. The Massachusetts-based transcription software company serves 77.00% of US hospitals.

In the previous years, tech businesses initiated a series of acquisitions of AI-focused companies. They aim to integrate more of this technology into their products and services.

Microsoft to Purchase Xandr

Moreover, Microsoft also announced its acquisition of the advertising company Xandr from AT&T.

The transaction, valued at $1.00 billion, targets to boost the delivery of Microsoft’s digital ad solutions and retail media capabilities. 

In 2018, Xandr started its operation by utilizing data collected from the phone, internet, and TV services to target consumers.

Consequently, both companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. 

Nevertheless, they have mentioned that the sale is currently subject to regulatory review. 

Meanwhile, Microsoft slightly declined 0.16% or 0.54 points to $326.75 per share in the pre-market trading.