CMA approves Microsoft's acquisition of Nuance Communications

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Microsoft’s acquisition of speech recognition company Nuance.

In the approval, the CMA said that the deal did not “give rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition in any market in the UK.”

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that the anticipated acquisition by Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) of Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nuance) does not give rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition (SLC) in any market in the UK.

The CMA focussed its investigation on the three theories of harm most likely to give
rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition (SLC) based on the evidence it received:

(a) horizontal unilateral effects in the supply of healthcare transcription software;
(b) horizontal unilateral effects in the supply of C&C software; and
(c) conglomerate effects with patient administration tools, patient engagement tools and remote healthcare tools as the focal products and Nuance’s healthcare transcription software as the adjacent product.

Back in April of 2021, Microsoft and Nuance Communications entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Nuance for $56.00 per share.

Nuance is a trusted cloud and AI software leader representing decades of accumulated healthcare and enterprise AI experience. Mark Benjamin will remain CEO of Nuance, reporting to Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud & AI at Microsoft.

Nuance’s solutions work seamlessly with core healthcare systems, including longstanding relationships with Electronic Health Records (EHRs), to alleviate the burden of clinical documentation and empower providers to deliver better patient experiences.

Nuance solutions are currently used by more than 55% of physicians and 75% of radiologists in the U.S., and used in 77% of U.S. hospitals. Nuance’s Healthcare Cloud revenue experienced 37% year-over-year growth in Nuance’s fiscal year 2020 (ended September 2020).

By augmenting the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare with Nuance’s solutions, as well as the benefit of Nuance’s expertise and relationships with EHR systems providers, Microsoft will be better able to empower healthcare providers through the power of ambient clinical intelligence and other Microsoft cloud services.

The acquisition will double Microsoft’s total addressable market (TAM) in the healthcare provider space, bringing the company’s TAM in healthcare to nearly $500 billion. Nuance and Microsoft will deepen their existing commitments to the extended partner ecosystem, as well as the highest standards of data privacy, security and compliance.

Beyond healthcare, Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions across Interactive Voice Response (IVR), virtual assistants, and digital and biometric solutions to companies around the world across all industries.