[뉴스] 마이크로소프트(MSFT), 음성 인식 기업 '뉘앙스' 160억 달러에 인수 확정

CNBC는 “12일(월) Microsoft(MSFT)는 인공지능(AI) 및 음성 기술 기업인 Nuance Communications(NUAN)를 주당 56달러에 인수할 계획이라고 공표했다. 해당 인수가는 9일(금) 종가 대비 23%의 프리미엄이 적용된 것이다”고 보도했다.

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“Microsoft의 Nuance 인수 규모는 160억 달러에 상당하며, 부채까지 포함할 시 동 수치는 190억 달러이다. 최근 들어 Microsoft는 기업 인수를 통해 사업 영역을 확장하고 있으며, 동사는 채팅 앱인 Discord를 100억 달러에 인수 시도 중이라고 전해지기도 했다”고 발언했다.

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“Microsoft의 Nuance 인수는 동사가 ’16년에 LinkedIn을 260억 달러에 인수한 이후로 최대 규모이다. 지난 달에는 동사가 게임 개발사인 Zenimax를 76억 달러에 인수하는 것을 완료하기도 했다”고 설명했다.

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한편 “Microsoft의 Satya Nadella CEO는 Nuance의 헬스케어 도구가 이번 M&A의 배경이 됐다고 밝혔다. ’20년 4분기 기준으로 Nuance의 매출 및 순이익은 각각 3.46억 달러, 7,000만 달러였다”고 전했다.

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원본 내용

Microsoft buys speech recognition firm Nuance in a $16 billion deal

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Key Point

· Microsoft announced it will buy Nuance Communications in a $16 billion deal, or about $19 billion including debt.

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· Microsoft will buy Nuance for $56 per share, about a 23% premium over Nuance’s closing price Friday.

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· Nuance’s technology will be used in Microsoft’s health-care cloud products.

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Microsoft announced Monday that it will buy speech recognition company Nuance Communications for $56 per share, about 23% above its closing price Friday. The deal is worth about $16 billion and about $19 billion including debt.

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It’s the latest sign Microsoft is hunting for more growth through acquisitions. The company is also reportedly in talks to buy the chat app Discord for about $10 billion. On top of that, Microsoft made an effort to buy TikTok’s U.S. business last year for about $30 billion before the deal was derailed.

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The Nuance acquisition represents Microsoft’s largest acquisition since it bought LinkedIn for more than $26 billion in 2016. Last month, Microsoft completed its $7.6 billion acquisition of gaming company Zenimax.

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Shares of Nuance ended the trading day up 15.95% Monday. Microsoft shares were up slightly.

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Nuance would be aligned with the part of Microsoft’s business that serves businesses and governments. Nuance derives revenue by selling tools for recognizing and transcribing speech in doctor office visits, customer-service calls and voicemails. In its announcement, Microsoft said Nuance’s technology will be used to augment Microsoft’s cloud products for health care, which were launched last year.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted Nuance’s health care tools as the key driver behind the acquisition.

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“We’ve seen a massive accelearation of digital transformation… health care in particular,” Nadella said. “When you think about the provider market… digital tech is going to be the key.”

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Nuance reported $7 million in net income on about $346 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, with revenue declining 4% on an annualized basis. Nuance was founded in 1992, and had 7,100 employees as of September.

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Microsoft said Nuance CEO Mark Benjamin will remain at the company and report to Scott Guthrie,who is in charge of Microsoft’s cloud and artificial intelligence businesses.

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Nuance has a strong reputation for its voice recognition technology, and it has been considered an acquisition target for companies like Apple, Microsoft and more for several years. Microsoft already has voice recognition built into many of its products, but it has recently shut down some products featuring its voice assistant Cortana.

Microsoft buys speech recognition firm Nuance in a $16 billion deal