IBM To Acquire The Weather Company Digital Business Units

Today, IBM announced that it has the intention of acquiring the B2B, mobile and cloud-based units of The Weather Company. The industry giant said the definitive agreement it has entered with The Weather Company will also include the brands WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company. Moreover, the agreement will also have the TV segment of The Weather Company license weather forecast data and analytics. 

CNN noted that the agreement is nothing unusual for a company who is seeking access to the right data that can convert to millions of sales. John Kelly, senior vice president, IBM Solutions Portfolio and Research, revealed that the acquisition is a strategic move for IBM to take advantage of the opportunities the Internet of Things market provide.

He said in a statement, "The Weather Company's extremely high-volume data platform, coupled with IBM's global cloud and the advanced cognitive computing capabilities of Watson, will be unsurpassed in the Internet of Things, providing our clients significant competitive advantage as they link their business and sensor data with weather and other pertinent information in real time. This powerful cloud platform will position IBM to arm entire industries with deep multimodal insights that will help enterprises gain clarity and take action from the oceans of data being generated around them."