IBM Corp. said Monday it will buy software maker Cognos Inc. for $5 billion in cash.
IBM said it will pay $58 per share for the Canadian company, a 9 percent premium over its closing price Friday. The acquisition is subject to Cognos shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.
The acquisition of Cognos supports IBM's Information on Demand strategy, which was announced in early 2006 and combines IBM's strength in information integration, content and data management and business consulting services.
Cognos is the 23rd IBM acquisition as part of the strategy. Other acquisitions in support of IBM's Information on Demand initiative include Princeton Softech, FileNet, Ascential Software, DataMirror, SRD, Trigo, DWL and Alphablox.
IBM said it will integrat Cognos into its information management software division. IBM also will appoint current Cognos President and CEO Rob Ashe to lead the group.
Cognos has approximately 4,000 employees and serves more than 25,000 customers. IBM and Cognos have partnered for more than 15 years, with extensive technical integrations and eight pre-integrated joint solutions already supporting many joint customers.
Cognos Inc. www.cognos.com
IBM Corp. www.ibm.com
