IBM's $4.6 Billion Bet on Cloud Bills and IT Sprawl

IBM is acquiring Apptio for $4.6 billion to address the enduring problems of cloud costs and IT sprawl. Apptio specializes in FinOps, which focuses on the financial management of IT operations. The acquisition will enable IBM to build a "virtual command center" for spend management and optimization across enterprise IT. IBM plans to combine Apptio's capabilities with its existing automation software to provide comprehensive spend management and optimization solutions. The acquisition also grants IBM access to Apptio's anonymized IT spend data, which will provide new insights for clients and partners. The deal is expected to close in the latter half of 2023.