The UK competition regulator has opened an investigation into Microsoft’s proposed $16bn takeover of Nuance, the artificial intelligence and speech recognition firm best known for its work on Apple’s virtual assistant Siri, in its latest move to scrutinise the impact of deals struck by big tech. Microsoft moved to buyMassachusetts-based Nuance, which has a stock market value of almost $18bn, in April to build up its cloud computing operation for healthcare and business customers. The European Commission has also been taking soundings from rivals, with a decision on whether to investigate expected as soon as this week. Nuance offers healthcare businesses and hospitals services including medical transcription, clinical speech recognition and medical imaging. The government is yet to officially grant the DMU powers which requires parliamentary time for new legislation.

Source: The Guardian December 14, 2021 04:37 UTC