Oracle Acquires Cerner
Enterprise software giant, Oracle, will buy electronic medical records company, Cerner, in an all-cash deal for $95 per share, or approximately $28.3 billion in equity value.
It is Oracle’s largest acquisition ever and moves the database software giant deeper into the health care sector.
With this acquisition, Oracle’s corporate mission expands to assume the responsibility to provide overworked medical professionals with a new generation of easier-to-use digital tools that enable access to information via a hands-free voice interface to secure cloud applications.
There’s lots of interest because healthcare is a simply huge market. In its announcement, Oracle quoted a popular figure that the U.S. healthcare business alone is worth $3.8 trillion annually.
Specifically, the two companies say they see big opportunities to expand cloud, AI, and machine learning applications for Cerner’s healthcare clients. Oracle says its goal is to deliver “zero unplanned downtime in the medical environment.”
“Working together, Cerner and Oracle have the capacity to transform healthcare delivery by providing medical professionals with better information—enabling them to make better treatment decisions resulting in better patient outcomes,” said Larry Ellison, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Oracle.
This latest move from Oracle indicates a very deliberate and intentional commitment to clinical medicine. With the market share and brand recognition both companies boast, this deal between Oracle and Cerner has significant promise to change the face of healthcare. Only time will tell what the future of this revolutionary and innovative partnership will truly entail.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.