IBM agrees to acquire data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B in cash, above its ~$8B market value as of its December 5 close, paying $31 per share

Confluent shares surged more than 25% in premarket trading Monday, while IBM's fell slightly.

Wall Street Journal 2025-12-08 Lauren Thomas

Discussion

@jasonlk @jasonlk on x
Public-public deals like IBM + Confluent are good for investors (+34% boost to stock price) Often a good deal for CEO and few other execs if they just want to retire (understandable) and have a true exit. An IPO is hardly an “exit” for a founder CEO. It's another beginning.
@confluentinc @confluentinc on x
We are excited that Confluent has entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by @IBM! Learn more here: https://www.confluent.io/... [image]
@bdkozlovski Stanislav Kozlovski on x
🚨 IBM to acquire Confluent for $11B Just two months after the rumor leaked, we now have a name - $IBM. As I mentioned then, there were signs. $CFLT's business was struggling. Is this a good sign? Not really. IBM is a household name but not for anything good (its software). [image…
@acoustik Ajay Kulkarni on x
First Hashi, now Confluent. IBM emerging as the white knight to save public open source infra startups that have plateaued post-IPO.
@samsolid57 Sam Badawi on x
$IBM will buy $CFLT for about 31.50 per share. That is 31% upside from here. Congrats Confluent shareholders! IBM recently purchased $HCP. Now becoming a centralized infrastructure and data streaming platform. [image]
@trengriffin Tren Griffin on x
Tis the season to buy some revenue growth, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la Troll the ancient Yuletide mainframe sales and consulting revenue, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la. https://www.wsj.com/... [image]
@laurenthomas Lauren Thomas on x
Sunday night SCOOP: IBM is in advanced talks to acquire data-infrastructure company Confluent for around $11 billion. Announcement could come tomorrow. $IBM $CFLT https://www.wsj.com/...
@josephjacks_ @josephjacks_ on x
Bravo. Including Red Hat, this will bring @ArvindKrishna's total commercial open source acquisition investments to > $50B since taking the reins. Over the same 5 ~ year period, $IBM market cap went from $95B to nearly $300B. 👏🏼
@alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x
WSJ reports that IBM is buying Confluent, a once high-flying data pioneer that I profiled in Forbes magazine *checks notes*... 10 years ago 😱 https://www.forbes.com/... Confluent reached a $20B market cap after IPO in 2021, but treaded water in the post-ZIRP era, stuck at ~$8B.
@dmnd.me Jeremy Diamond on bluesky
How is IBM always buying the previous decade's hot company [embedded post]

Chronicles

IBM agrees to acquire data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B in cash, above its ~$8B market value as of its December 5 close, paying $31 per share

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