IBM in talks to buy software company Apptio for up to $5 billion

International Business Machines Corp (IBM) is in talks to buy software company Apptio as part of a deeper push into automation technology, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The parties are discussing a price in the range of $4.5 billion to $5 billion, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. Apptio is currently owned by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners.