IBM to acquire Confluent for $11B to build smart data platform for enterprise AI

IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire data streaming company Confluent for $31 per share in cash, valuing the deal at $11 billion and making it IBM’s largest software acquisition since Red Hat. The company says Confluent’s Kafka-based real-time data streaming will be integrated with its hybrid cloud and watsonx stack to provide an end-to-end 'smart data platform' for generative and agentic AI applications, with the deal expected to close by mid‑2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.