IBM to acquire FinOps leader Apptio for $4.6 billion

IBM to acquire FinOps leader Apptio for $4.6 billion

IBM has announced that it’s acquiring Apptio for $4.6 billion. It said that it entered an agreement with Vista Equity Partners to help stump up some of the capital for the acquisition.

According to IBM, the acquisition of Apptio, which it describes as a leader in FinOps software, will help it improve its IT automation capabilities and give customers access to more useful tools to “deliver enhanced business value”.

As a leader in FinOps software, Apptio is already offering its software-as-a-service solutions to more than 1,500 clients, including more than half of the Fortune 100. Its three main services are ApptioOne, Apptio Cloudability, and Apptio Targetprocess which help companies with their IT spending, public cloud spending, and investment planning, respectively.

"Technology is changing business at a rate and pace we've never seen before. To capitalize on these changes, it is essential to optimize investments which drive better business value, and Apptio does just that," said Arvind Krishna, CEO and chairman, IBM. "Apptio's offerings combined with IBM's IT automation software and watsonx AI platform, gives clients the most comprehensive approach to optimize and manage all of their technology investments."

Aside from boosting the number of services IBM can offer to customers, the deal will mean that IBM gets access to $450 billion of anonymized IT spend data that Apptio has collected, potentially allowing it to share new insights with its clients and partners.

Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta said the company was “so excited to be joining IBM” and the CEO of Vista Equity Partners, Robert F. Smith, said that he was looking forward to seeing Apptio “further evolve with IBM.”

According to the statement, Apptio will be acquired with available cash on hand and the deal is excepted to close later this year, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.