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IBM, or International Business Machines Corporation, nicknamed Big Blue, is selling its weather business. In particular, the company is unloading its “The Weather Channel” asset and Francisco Partners private equity firm has been revealed to be the buyer.
IBM agreed to sell its weather business to the said PEF firm, which was confirmed on Tuesday, Aug. 22. They signed a definitive agreement but did not disclose the acquisition's financial terms, as per Reuters.
IBM and Francisco Partners revealed that the sale includes The Weather Company's consumer-based properties, such as Weather.com and Storm Radar. Also included in the sale are enterprise offerings for business sectors like media and aviation.
The Big Blue will keep its sustainability software unit, including its Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS), to help customers create, measure, report, and operate ESG data to make well-informed decisions while also improving performance and complying with the regulatory requirements at the same time.
"We are proud of what The Weather Company team has accomplished with IBM, and we are confident that the best path forward is as a standalone company benefiting from Francisco Partners' expanded investment, dedication, and expertise. We're excited to see the next phase of The Weather Company's journey," IBM’s senior vice president and software and chief commercial officer, Rob Thomas, said in a press release.
He added, "Over the last few years, we've evolved IBM to be a hybrid cloud and AI company. We regularly review our portfolio to make sure our business areas are core to that strategy, and today's news reflects our continued focus on these two transformational technologies."
Alan Ni, a partner at Francisco Partners, further stated, "Amid the growing volatility of weather, The Weather Company's unique set of consumer, media, and industry-specific products provide mission-critical, data-driven weather insights to individuals and businesses around the world, we are excited to partner with the management team to grow The Weather Company's robust portfolio of technology offerings and deliver a great product experience for its customers."
