After the United States and Australia, the European Union authorized Microsoft’s takeover of Nuance a few days ago. Announced for the first time last April, this acquisition should allow Microsoft to absorb all the know-how in artificial intelligence and voice recognition.
The Microsoft logo on the Surface Laptop Go // Source: Arnaud Gelineau – Frandroid
Several months after having taken out the checkbook … Microsoft is preparing to cut the champagne. Last April, the Redmond giant announced that it wanted to acquire Nuance, a voice recognition and AI specialist, for an amount of $ 19.7 billion. This project nevertheless required the agreement of the American, Australian, British and European authorities.
Last week, it was the turn of European Union regulators to give their approval. An additional step taken … for a takeover which is now well on the way to materializing: all that remains is the British authorities to convince.
As recalled Windows Central, this is the second largest acquisition in the history of Microsoft, which had raised no less than $ 26.2 billion to munch LinkedIn in 2016.
Microsoft takes over a spawn of speech recognition
If Microsoft is extending the tickets without trembling to buy the services of Nuance, it is not by chance. Based in the Boston area, the group is notably behind the Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software, which is acclaimed for its technology. Nuance’s technologies are also very popular in the medical sector.
They are thus employed by 77% of American hospitals, indicates the firm. In the past, Nuance had also worked with Apple on the creation of Siri, its personal assistant. A pedigree that explains the amount of investment made by Microsoft.
In talks with English regulators
Windows Central reports that Microsoft is currently in talks with English regulators to finally approve the acquisition of Nuance. Note that Microsoft had filed in November its request for authorization with the EU, which was to give its agreement in December … or launch an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover.
Logically, the response from the British authorities should also materialize quickly. Microsoft will then be able to legitimately get its hands on Nuance by absorbing its know-how, but also its debts. Of the $ 19.7 billion announced for this buyout, $ 3 billion are intended to bring the accounts of the Massachusetts-based group back on line.
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