ARMONK, N.Y. and SAN FRANCISCO—The investment firm Francisco Partners has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire The Weather Company assets from IBM. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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.
Francisco Partners already owns a number of companies that supply technologies to broadcast industry, including Grass Valley and LiveU, that could benefit from the deal.
IBM acquired the Weather Company, excluding its cable assets which are now owned by the Allen Media, in early 2016 in a deal that the Wall Street Journal priced at more than $2 billion.
"Amid the growing volatility of weather, The Weather Company's unique set of consumer, media, and industry-specific products provide mission critical, data-driven weather insights to individuals and businesses around the world," explained Alan Ni, partner at Francisco Partners. "We are excited to partner with the management team to grow The Weather Company's robust portfolio of technology offerings and deliver a great product experience for its customers."
The transaction 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 Weather Company serves an average of more than 415 million people each month through its consumer-facing digital properties, including The Weather Channel mobile app and website, Weather Underground and Storm Radar, and more than 2,000 businesses across a variety of industries through its enterprise offerings, the companies said.
In announcing the deal, Francisco Partners said that it will supply increased investment and resources that will allow 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 Weather 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, Francisco Partners said.
"We're proud of what The Weather Company team has accomplished with IBM, and we are confident that the best path forward is as a standalone company benefiting from Francisco Partners' expanded investment, dedication and expertise. We're excited to see the next phase of The Weather Company's journey," said Rob Thomas, senior vice president, software and chief commercial officer, IBM. "Over the last few years, we've evolved IBM to be a hybrid cloud and AI company. We regularly review our portfolio to make sure our business areas are core to that strategy, and today's news reflects our continued focus on these two transformational technologies."
As part of the deal, 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 said.
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.
Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has invested in over 400 technology companies, making it one of the most active and long-standing investors in the technology industry, the firm said.
