The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently announced that it would launch an investigation into IBM’s $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp, a software company specializing in value-added business services, which was unveiled in April this year. The inquiry aims to determine whether the transaction could potentially hinder market competition.
The CMA stated that it would invite public comments regarding the acquisition, with plans to compile various perspectives by January 16. These public insights, alongside preliminary investigation findings, will be used to assess whether IBM’s acquisition of HashiCorp poses a threat to market competition.
HashiCorp, founded in 2012 by Los Angeles developers Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar, is renowned for its Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tool, Terraform, and its automation frameworks designed to manage cloud infrastructure and ensure security.
The acquisition is expected to allow IBM to take over HashiCorp’s approximately 4,400 clients, significantly enhancing its presence in the competitive cloud and artificial intelligence markets.
However, in August, the CMA formally notified HashiCorp of its intention to investigate the transaction to ascertain whether it would result in anti-competitive practices or market monopolization. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has also initiated its own inquiry into the deal.
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