Oracle is currently negotiating to buy healthcare tech firm Cerner in a deal that could be worth approximately $30bn, reports have claimed.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said the potential deal will be Oracle’s biggest acquisition to date, almost three times bigger than the $10 billion acquisition of PeopleSoft that took place back in 2005.
Cerner, which specializes in digitalizing medical records, has a market value of around $23bn, but adding the usual takeover premiums could send the price up even higher.
Arms race heating up
Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Cerner currently has 26,400 employees and annual revenue of $5.5 billion, according to data from Datanyze.
Oracle was founded in 1977 by billionaire Larry Ellison, who still owns almost half of the company’s shares (42%). Ellison stepped down as company CEO in 2014, handing off the baton to Ms. Catz and the late Mark Hurd, but is still the company’s CTO and chairman.
The deal would only solidify Oracle’s already strong presence in the healthcare industry, as it currently offers software tech for health insurers, healthcare providers, and public health systems.
Buying Cerner would heat up the “arms race” with Microsoft, who is also showing increasing interest in digital healthcare tools. Back in April 2021, the Redmond software giants acquired AI company Nuance Communications for $16 billion.
Wall Street Journal also believes buying Cerner would help Oracle pivot more towards the cloud, a move that’s been getting plenty of praise from its investors and stakeholders.
Via: Wall Street Journal
