IBM to Acquire Confluent in $11 Billion Deal

Paul, Weiss is advising IBM in its acquisition of data streaming platform pioneer Confluent, Inc. for $31 per share, representing an enterprise value of $11 billion. The all-cash deal will enable the end-to-end integration of applications, analytics, data systems and AI agents to drive intelligence and resilience in hybrid cloud environments. The transaction is expected to close by the middle of 2026.

The Paul, Weiss team is led by corporate partners Steven Williams and Dotun Obadina and counsel Lara Solomons, and includes partner Manuel Frey and counsel David Sobel; executive compensation partner Jarrett Hoffman; intellectual property partners Jonathan Ashtor and Brianna van Kan; tax partners Scott Sontag and Sohail Itani; litigation partners Liza Velazquez and Daniel Gerkin and counsel Nathan Mitchell and Audrey Paquet; and real estate partner Peter Fisch.