cnn IBM spins off a quarter of the company to focus on the cloud

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IBM is spinning off a significant part of its business to focus on new opportunities in hybrid cloud growth, the company announced on Thursday.

The IT services unit of IBM's Global Technology Services business will become a separate public company. It represents a major departure from IBM's previous priorities and one of the boldest moves in the company's more-than-a-century-long history.

IBM's managed infrastructure services business represented nearly a quarter of IBM's revenue last year. But IBM believes its future lies in the hybrid cloud -- a technical setup wherein companies may use multiple clouds in addition to their own on-premises servers. IBM's platform gives companies tools to more easily navigate between those various environments.

 

New CEO Arvind Krishna made the hybrid cloud the focus when he took the reins from former CEO Ginni Rometty earlier this year. IBM has made large investments in cloud computing over the past several years. In 2019, IBM acquired RedHat for $34 billion. The company says the spinoff will grant IBM the opportunity to be "laser-focused on the $1 trillion hybrid cloud opportunity."

 

Investors liked the news, sending shares of IBM up 5% Thursday.

 

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ibm-spins-off-a-quarter-of-the-company-to-focus-on-the-cloud/ar-BB19PLzc?ocid=msedgntp

 

This is a pretty big business move for a company like IBM. I'd imagine people will be lining up to buy stock in the new company when it launches. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by axipher