Discord may not be Microsoft’s only major acquisition target lately. Bloomberg sources say Microsoft is in “advanced talks” to buy voice technology giant Nuance in an approximately $ 16 billion deal. While there is no guarantee the movement can move forward, negotiations have advanced enough that the two can announce a deal as early as this week.
We asked Microsoft and Nuance for comment.
So-called insiders did not explain why Microsoft wanted to acquire Nuance. However, a buyout could offer multiple advantages. Nuance is well known for its AI-guided speech recognition, and Microsoft may integrate both this tool and any other AI tool (including those for customer service) into its products. The potential deal could also fuel Microsoft’s ambitions in the healthcare sector. The company has previously worked with Nuance on Cloud for health and other projects, including one that would turn doctor-patient conversations into medical records.
This wouldn’t necessarily pose a danger to some of Nuance’s consumer-facing technologies, such as its Dragon Anywhere voice dictation software. However, it won’t come as a surprise that Microsoft is rethinking the strategy for this software, so don’t be surprised if it gets a redesign or eventually morph into other Microsoft apps and services.
