Acquisitions

IBM's Software Revenue Grew 8 Per Cent While Consulting Was Flat. GAAP Earnings Rose 26 Per Cent, Against a Year-Earlier Quarter Cut by a $309 Million Tax Charge.

IBM said on Wednesday 21 October that third-quarter revenue rose 5 per cent to $17.1 billion, or 6 per cent at constant currency, with Software up 8 per cent and Consulting flat. GAAP earnings from continuing operations rose 26 per cent to $2.31 a share and operating earnings 11 per cent to $2.95. IBM held its 4 to 5 per cent revenue outlook and now expects free cash flow to rise by more than $1 billion this year.

By Alison Acosta October 22, 2026

Surgical scissors, clamps and a scalpel laid out on a blue sterile drape beside folded gauze in a metal dish.

Business

Steris Will Pay $2.1 Billion for Xodus Medical. The Target Expects $245 Million of 2026 Revenue and $135 Million of Adjusted Operating Profit.

Steris said on Monday 12 October that it will buy Xodus Medical, a privately held maker of surgical safety products, for $2.1 billion at closing, with up to $150 million more in earnout. It expects to close by 31 December 2026 and to fund the deal primarily with debt. Nothing has closed.

By Margaret Holloway October 12, 2026

Racks of networking and server equipment with orange fibre cables in a dimly lit equipment room.

Technology

IonQ Will Pay Up to $1.3 Billion in Stock for Elisity. Up to $150 Million of That Depends on Performance.

IonQ said on Monday 12 October that it will buy Zero Trust security company Elisity in an all-stock deal valued at up to $1.3 billion, including up to $150 million in earnout. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Neither company has disclosed Elisity's revenue.

By Alison Acosta October 12, 2026

The steel understructure of a large bridge.

Opinion

Infrastructure Everybody Depends On Should Not Be Owned by a Competitor

Nvidia is buying Hugging Face for something near $13bn. The deal will probably clear, because nothing in it looks like a conventional overlap. That is a fact about how we assess acquisitions, not about whether this one is fine.

By Margaret Holloway September 9, 2026

A graphics card and circuit board photographed close up.

The Long View

The Chipmaker Bought the Neutral Ground

Nvidia has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, the hub through which a very large share of open models, datasets and tooling reaches developers, in a deal reported around $13bn. The platform's value came substantially from belonging to none of the hardware vendors. That property is what has just been bought.

By Alison Acosta September 9, 2026

A smiling owner standing behind the counter of her coffee shop

Business

The Quiet Boom in Franchise Resales

A generation of franchise owners is heading for the exits, and a new class of buyers, many of them corporate refugees, is lining up to take over proven units.

By Thomas Gutierrez August 11, 2026