IBM closes SPSS deal E-mail
by Stephen Withers   
Monday, 05 October 2009
IBM has completed its billion-dollar acquisition of SPSS. The deal, which was originally struck in July, sees IBM pay $US50 a share for SPSS, a considerable premium to the company's market value at the time.

As reported in July, IBM struck a deal to acquire statistical and predictive analytics software company SPSS.

SPSS accepted a $US50 cash per share offer from IBM. Before the announcement, the shares were trading at around $US35.

The $US1.2 billion transaction was completed late last week.

According to company officials, SPSS will be integrated into IBM's Information Management software portfolio. The well-regarded SPSS brand could therefore disappear, since the products had been rebranded PASW prior to the acquisition.

"With this acquisition, we are extending our capabilities around a new level of analytics that not only provides clients with greater insight - but true foresight," IBM general manager, information management Ambuj Goyal said at the time the deal was announced.

Jack Noonan, chairman, CEO and president of SPSS said "We're excited about this agreement and the positive prospects that SPSS and IBM can achieve together in continuing to lead an industry that we helped shape. The depth and breadth of IBM's resources, its customer and market reach can only enhance our ability to address the growing market for predictive analytics.

"In joining with IBM, we will advance predictive analytics as a competitive advantage for companies and organizations worldwide.  We see this as a transformative event that will accelerate the adoption of predictive analytics."

Predictive analytics can be applied to a variety of areas in order to make decision based on large amounts of data. Examples include reducing credit risk, generating relevant 'upsell' suggestions, and predicting areas where crimes are likely to be committed.  IBM intends to integrate the technology into a variety of its products.

SPSS started as a statistical package developed at Stanford University that was subsequently commercialised. The company claims a number of firsts, including the first statistical software products for PC DOS and Windows.

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