On December 8, 2025, IBM and Confluent, Inc., the data streaming pioneer, announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which IBM will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Confluent for $31 per share, representing an enterprise value of $11 billion. Confluent provides a leading open-source enterprise data streaming platform that connects, processes, and governs reusable and reliable data and events in real time, foundational for the deployment of AI. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to Confluent in the transaction.

The Wilson Sonsini team that advised Morgan Stanley included Marty Korman, Doug Schnell, Nikki Smith Howard, and Hayden Smith.

For more information, please see Confluent’s press release. Additional coverage can be found on CNBC, The Associated Press, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).