Deal Expected to Close in 2026
IBM plans to fund the deal entirely with cash on hand, and the companies expect the transaction to close by mid-2026, pending regulatory approvals.
Legal Teams
-
For IBM (Paul Weiss): Steven J. Williams, Dotun Obadina
-
For Confluent (Cooley): Jamie Leigh, Ben Beerle, Jon Avina, Rishab Kumar, Milson Yu, Jeremy Morrison, Stella Sarma, Barbara Mirza, Austin Holt, Ross Eberly
The agreement signals another major consolidation in the AI-cloud race, positioning IBM as a commanding force in data streaming — the lifeblood of next-generation artificial intelligence.
