Auust 23, 2023
Investment firm Francisco Partners has agreed to acquire The Weather Company assets, including the popular Weather.com platform, from IBM for an undisclosed sum, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The deal confirms an April report from the Journal that IBM was exploring a sale of its weather operation—and comes at a time when extreme weather-related events are forcing countries to deal with more frequent and severe storms, wildfires, and heat waves.
The two companies said Francisco Partners will acquire The Weather Company’s digital consumer-facing offerings, including The Weather Channel mobile; and cloud-based digital properties including Weather.com, as well as Weather Underground and Storm Radar.
Francisco Partners will also gain control of its enterprise offerings for broadcast, media aviation, advertising technology, and data solutions for other emerging industries, they said.
The Weather Company serves an average of about 415 million people every month through its consumer-facing assets, such as The Weather Channel website and app for mobile devices.
Francisco Partners plans to expand its new acquisition beyond weather forecasting. It said it would look to bring new tools and experiences to its users, while offering more actionable insights to businesses and organizations.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
Research contact: @WSJ