As many of us watch the baseball trades, a big trade impacting human resources occurred today. Many of us make use of SPSS software for statistical analysis. Thus, this announcement may have long term significance.
From the Wall Street Journal:
International Business Machines Corp. agreed to buy software developer SPSS Inc. for $1.2 billion, expanding Big Blue’s software portfolio and adding another deal to the growing list of recent acquisitions in the software industry.
Chicago-based SPSS develops software that analyzes statistical data to make predictions. The software, known as predictive analytics, is used for survey and scientific research along with marketing, government and educational purposes. The companies said they expected to close the deal by year’s end.
The $50-a-share all-cash offer represents a 42% premium to SPSS’s Monday closing price. SPSS shares rose to an all-time high of $49.49 a share on Nasdaq Stock Market following the deal’s announcement, and were recently up 41% at $49.30. IBM shares fell 0.7% to $116.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.
