IBM seals USD 34 billion deal to buy Red Hat to boost cloud business

International Business Machines Corp said on Tuesday it has closed its USD 34 billion acquisition of software company Red Hat Inc, as it looks to ramp up its cloud computing business.

Underscoring the drive into high-margin businesses, IBM in October agreed to buy Red Hat, the company’s biggest acquisition in its more than 100-year history.

Ginni Rometty, IBM chief executive since 2012, has steered the company toward faster-growing segments such as cloud, software and services and away from traditional hardware products, but not without a bumpy journey. The newer areas of focus have sometimes underwhelmed investors.