Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses, is to acquire The Weather Company assets from IBM (NYSE: IBM).
Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close by the end of Q1 2024 and is subject to regulatory approvals, completion of local labor processes and other customary closing conditions.
The assets being acquired by Francisco Partners include The Weather Company’s digital consumer-facing offerings, The Weather Channel mobile and cloud-based digital properties including Weather.com, Weather Underground and Storm Radar, as well as its enterprise offerings for broadcast, media, aviation, advertising technology and data solutions for other emerging industries. The Weather Company will also bring its forecasting science and technology platform to Francisco Partners.
Upon close, The Weather Company will become standalone company.
IBM will retain its sustainability software business, including its Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS) to help clients curate, measure, report and operationalize ESG data to inform decision making, improve performance and meet regulatory requirements. IBM intends to continue leveraging The Weather Company’s weather data for EIS, which spans various climate related use cases. EIS also uses a geospatial foundational AI model powered by NASA’s satellite dataset and offered as part of watsonx, IBM’s AI and data platform. This model has a wide range of applications, including tracking changes in land use, monitoring natural disasters, and predicting crop yields.
Through increased investment and resources from Francisco Partners, The Weather Company will look to move beyond forecasting alone and bring new tools and experiences to users to help them understand how weather impacts all aspects of their lives, starting with health and well-being. For businesses, The Weather Company plans to offer more actionable insights so organizations can provide greater value to their customers. With its advertising platform, The company will continue to provide quality real-time experiences for the ad and subscription media industry, while complying with all consumer privacy laws and regulations.
FinSMEs
23/08/2023