Microsoft closes its $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance

EU, UK antitrust regulators probed deal in the past year

Microsoft has completed its $19.7 billion acquisition of conversational AI company Nuance after clearing EU and U.K. regulatory hurdles.

Nuance, which is familiar to consumers as enabling speech recognition in Apple’s Siri, has expertise in the health care, financial services, retail and telecommunications industries. It is Microsoft’s second largest acquisition after buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016.

“Completion of this significant and strategic acquisition brings together Nuance’s best-in-class conversational AI and ambient intelligence with Microsoft’s secure and trusted industry cloud offerings,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud + AI Group at Microsoft.

“This powerful combination will help providers offer more affordable, effective and accessible health care, and help organizations in every industry create more personalized and meaningful customer experiences,” he said.

Nuance’s CEO, Mark Benjamin, will stay in his position and report to Guthrie.

Last November, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into the deal and approved it a month later. In December, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority opened its own probe into the transaction and approved it this month.

U.S. regulators approved the deal last June, two months after it was announced.