IBM buying Merge Healthcare in $1 billion deal - Chicago Sun-Times
Merge Healthcare, the Chicago-based medical imaging and technology company, is being bought by IBM in a deal valued at $1 billion. The combination of the Watson Health Cloud and Merge’s imaging technologies is intended to strengthen the ability to provide “historical images, electronic health records and data from wearable devices” in an enhanced tracking effort for health... Merge has about 70 employees in the Chicago area, and Gold said the region will become IBM’s hub for “imaging and image analytics. “As a proven leader in delivering health care solutions for over 20 years, Merge is a tremendous addition to the Watson Health platform. Health care will be one of IBM’s biggest growth areas over the next 10 years, which is why we are making a major investment to drive industry transformation and to facilitate a higher quality of care,” said John Kelly, senior vice president, IBM... If the deal is approved as expected late this year, it would be IBM’s third major health-related acquisition since the company launched its Watson Health unit earlier in 2015, according to the news release. Source: chicago.suntimes.com
