IBM is a global technology company that focuses on providing integrated solutions and products leveraging hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The company operates through key segments, including Software, Consulting, and Infrastructure, to support clients' digital transformations. IBM's offerings include a range of software solutions, consulting services, and infrastructure products, all designed to enhance business operations and drive innovation .
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Software - Offers hybrid platform software solutions, transaction processing, and distributed infrastructure software, including proprietary and open-source software delivered through as-a-Service or cloud models, and on-premise licenses. Red Hat, part of this segment, has shown substantial growth .
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Consulting - Provides business transformation, technology consulting, and application operations services, delivered through various models, including cloud and as-a-Service, crucial for clients preparing for AI integration .
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Infrastructure - Delivers Hybrid Infrastructure solutions like zSystems and Distributed Infrastructure solutions such as Power and Storage, supporting mission-critical workloads and driving hardware and related software adoption .
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| Name | Position | External Roles | Short Bio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Arvind Krishna ExecutiveBoard | Chairman, President, and CEO | Director of Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Director of Northrop Grumman Corporation | Joined IBM in 1990; became CEO in April 2020 and Chairman in December 2020; key architect of Red Hat acquisition. | View Report → |
Gary D. Cohn Executive | Vice Chairman | None | Vice Chairman since 2021; former COO of Goldman Sachs and Director of National Economic Council (2017-2018). | |
James J. Kavanaugh Executive | Senior Vice President and CFO | None | CFO of IBM; achieved $11.2B in free cash flow in 2023; led productivity initiatives and portfolio optimization. | |
Nickle J. LaMoreaux Executive | Senior Vice President and Chief HR Officer | None | Chief HR Officer since 2020; no additional details provided in the documents. | |
Nicolás A. Fehring Executive | Vice President and Controller | None | Vice President and Controller; no additional details provided in the documents. | |
Robert D. Thomas Executive | Senior Vice President of Software and CCO | None | Leads IBM's software business and global sales; joined IBM in consulting and transitioned to software leadership in 2006-2007. | |
Alex Gorsky Board | Director | Director of Apple, JPMorgan Chase, and Travis Manion Foundation | Former Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson; expertise in healthcare and corporate governance. | |
Andrew N. Liveris Board | Director | Chairman of Lucid Motors (stepping down April 2024); Director of Worley and Saudi Aramco | Former Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical; expertise in global business and sustainability; President of Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee. | |
David N. Farr Board | Director | None | Retired Chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co.; expertise in global business and technology. | |
F. William McNabb III Board | Director | Director of UnitedHealth Group and Axiom; Co-Chair of CECP | Former Chairman and CEO of Vanguard; expertise in investment management and corporate governance. | |
Frederick H. Waddell Board | Director | Director of AbbVie Inc.; Trustee of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Northwestern University | Retired Chairman and CEO of Northern Trust Corporation; expertise in financial services and corporate governance. | |
Marianne C. Brown Board | Director | Director of Akamai Technologies, The Charles Schwab Corporation, and Northrop Grumman Corporation | Former COO of FIS Global Financial Solutions; expertise in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and technology services. | |
Martha E. Pollack Board | Director | President of Cornell University | President of Cornell University; computer scientist with expertise in artificial intelligence and organizational leadership. | |
Michael Miebach Board | Director | CEO of Mastercard; Member of Business Roundtable, Business Council, and World Economic Forum | CEO of Mastercard since 2021; expertise in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and global business. | |
Michelle J. Howard Board | Director | None | Retired U.S. Navy Admiral; first African American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship and achieve four-star rank; expertise in cybersecurity and leadership. | |
Peter R. Voser Board | Director | Chairman of ABB Ltd.; Director of Temasek Holdings and PSA International | Former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; expertise in global business, energy, and technology. | |
Thomas Buberl Board | Director | CEO of AXA S.A.; Member of Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann VerwaltungsGesellschaft | CEO of AXA since 2016; expertise in digital transformation and insurance; member of Climate Finance Leadership Initiative. |
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Consulting revenue was flat this quarter with signings declining for the second consecutive quarter; given the ongoing macroeconomic challenges and client spending shifts, how confident are you in Consulting returning to growth in 2025, and what specific strategies are you implementing to drive this turnaround?
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With the HashiCorp acquisition potentially diluting free cash flow in the near term, especially if Consulting remains flat, how do you plan to achieve the high single-digit free cash flow growth you've previously targeted for 2025?
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IBM's revenue growth has averaged around 3% in several of the past four years, below your mid-single-digit model; considering that some growth drivers like the mainframe cycle and acquisitions could be one-time boosts, what initiatives are in place to ensure sustainable mid-single-digit revenue growth beyond 2025?
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While your generative AI book of business has grown significantly, you mentioned that these AI engagements have longer durations and lower immediate revenue yield; how will this affect your Consulting revenue growth and margins in the near term, and when do you expect these AI investments to contribute meaningfully to your financial performance?
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Software segment profit margin expanded to about 30% this quarter, above historical levels; given the competitive pressures in the software industry, how sustainable is this margin expansion, and what risks could potentially impact your software margins moving forward?
Research analysts who have asked questions during INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES earnings calls.
Amit Daryanani
Evercore
4 questions for IBM
Erik Woodring
Morgan Stanley
4 questions for IBM
Wamsi Mohan
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
4 questions for IBM
Benjamin Reitzes
Melius Research
3 questions for IBM
James Schneider
Goldman Sachs
3 questions for IBM
Matthew Swanson
RBC Capital Markets
3 questions for IBM
Brent Thill
Jefferies
2 questions for IBM
Brian Essex
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
2 questions for IBM
Ben Reitzes
Melius Research LLC
1 question for IBM
Jim Schneider
Goldman Sachs
1 question for IBM
Toni Sacconaghi
Bernstein
1 question for IBM
Notable M&A activity and strategic investments in the past 3 years.
| Company | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
Applications Software Technology LLC (AST) | 2025 | IBM plans to acquire AST in Q1 2025 to enhance its Oracle Cloud Application offerings for public sector digital transformations; the deal’s financial terms were not disclosed and AST will join IBM Consulting. |
StreamSets | 2024 | IBM completed the acquisition of StreamSets for approximately $2.3 billion in cash to add real‑time data ingestion and integration capabilities to its watsonx platform, integrating the company into its Software segment. |
webMethods | 2024 | IBM acquired webMethods alongside StreamSets in a bundled $2.3 billion cash transaction to enhance its integration platform (iPaaS) and hybrid cloud capabilities, with the business integrated into the Software segment. |
HashiCorp, Inc. | 2024 | IBM agreed to acquire HashiCorp for an enterprise value of $6.4 billion at $35 per share in cash to build a comprehensive hybrid cloud platform leveraging Terraform and Vault, with the transaction expected to be accretive and subject to regulatory approvals. |
StepZen, Inc. | 2023 | IBM completed the acquisition of StepZen in February 2023 to add GraphQL API technology that facilitates quicker API development; the financial impact was minimal, supporting IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI strategy. |
ASL Portfolio of Uptake Technologies | 2023 | Acquired in Q1 2023, this portfolio brings an industrial asset management data library that enhances IBM’s capabilities in hybrid cloud and AI within its Software segment. |
NS1 | 2023 | IBM integrated NS1, a leading network automation SaaS provider, into its Software segment following its February 2023 acquisition aimed at strengthening the company’s cloud and AI solutions; financial details were not disclosed. |
Ahana Cloud, Inc. | 2023 | Acquired in April 2023, Ahana Cloud brings expertise in open‑source, managed cloud‑native data analytics solutions to IBM’s Software segment, with complete financial terms yet to be fully disclosed. |
Polar Security | 2023 | IBM acquired Polar Security in Q2 2023 to boost its data security offerings for cloud and SaaS applications, aligning with its multi‑cloud and hybrid cloud strategies. |
Agyla SAS | 2023 | Acquired in Q2 2023, Agyla SAS is a leading provider of cloud, DevOps, and security services in France and was integrated into IBM’s Consulting segment to strengthen its hybrid cloud offerings. |
Apptio, Inc. | 2023 | IBM closed its acquisition of Apptio in Q3 2023 for approximately $4.6 billion in cash to accelerate IT management and automation capabilities, generating significant goodwill and integrating the business into its Software segment. |
Envizi | 2022 | IBM acquired Envizi in early 2022 to enhance environmental performance management through data analytics, integrating its capabilities into the Environmental Intelligence Suite within the Software segment as part of a broader $798 million package. |
Sentaca | 2022 | Completed in Q1 2022, IBM acquired Sentaca, a telco consulting services provider specializing in automation and cloud migration, as part of a $798 million acquisition package to bolster its Consulting segment. |
Neudesic | 2022 | IBM acquired Neudesic in February 2022, a company specializing in application development and cloud services, to enhance its hybrid cloud and AI strategy within the Consulting segment; this acquisition was part of a broader package totaling $798 million. |
Randori | 2022 | IBM completed the Q2 2022 acquisition of Randori, a cybersecurity attack surface management provider, to strengthen its security portfolio and complement solutions like QRadar XDR in its hybrid cloud strategy. |
Databand.ai | 2022 | Acquired in Q2 2022, Databand.ai provides a proactive data observability platform that enhances IBM’s Data Fabric capabilities; the deal’s purchase price allocation included $903 million in goodwill and $87 million for completed technology. |
Omnio | 2022 | IBM completed the Q3 2022 acquisition of Omnio, a developer of IoT connectors for industrial raw data collection, as part of an aggregate acquisition cost of $1,102 million for six deals, supporting its hybrid cloud and AI ambitions. |
Recent press releases and 8-K filings for IBM.
- IBM names Script Network as a Preferred Technology Partner to provide decentralized video infrastructure, cloud automation, and video data services to its enterprise clients worldwide.
- The partnership integrates blockchain-based video infrastructure, media asset management, and large-scale file transfer into IBM’s Partner Plus ecosystem.
- It taps into a rapidly growing global video infrastructure and cloud automation market projected to exceed $750 billion by 2030.
- Script Technologies gains direct access to IBM’s enterprise client base, embedding its decentralized media services within IBM’s cloud and AI automation frameworks.
- Hazeltree’s September 2025 Shortside Crowdedness Report shows IBM as the most crowded large-cap short in the Americas with a Crowdedness Score of 99.
- Technology stocks comprised 26% of the most-crowded shorts in the Americas and 30% in APAC, while consumer and luxury names dominated short interest in EMEA.
- The report aggregates anonymized data from Hazeltree’s proprietary platform, covering over 15,000 global equities and 500+ asset managers.
- IBM announced general availability of the Spyre Accelerator for low-latency generative and agentic AI on IBM Z and LinuxONE from October 28, and on Power servers in early December.
- The accelerator is built on a 5 nm process with 32 cores and 25.6 billion transistors on a 75 W PCIe card, supporting clusters of up to 48 cards on IBM Z/LinuxONE and 16 on Power11 systems.
- Spyre integrates an on-chip MMA accelerator and a catalog of AI services for one-click deployment on Power servers, and can ingest over 8 million documents per hour at a prompt size of 128.
- Developed through IBM Research AI Hardware Center since 2019, Spyre delivers secure, resilient, and energy-efficient on-prem AI acceleration for enterprise workloads.
- IBM and Anthropic launched a strategic partnership to embed Anthropic’s Claude LLM into select IBM software products, beginning with a new AI-first integrated development environment (IDE).
- The IDE is in private preview, with over 6,000 early adopters reporting 45% average productivity gains, translating to significant cost savings while maintaining security and code quality.
- IBM published “Architecting Secure Enterprise AI Agents with MCP,” a first-of-its-kind guide for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise AI agents, and will contribute assets to the Model Context Protocol community.
- The companies plan to explore additional integrations of Claude across IBM’s software portfolio to drive long-term value and open standards for enterprise AI.
- At TechXchange 2025, IBM introduced AgentOps within watsonx Orchestrate for end-to-end agent observability and governance, along with generally available agentic workflows and upcoming Langflow visual builder integration to streamline AI orchestration.
- IBM announced Project infragraph, a unified control plane within HashiCorp Cloud Platform for real-time hybrid and multi-cloud observability and security, opening its private beta in December 2025.
- The company launched Project Bob, an AI-first integrated development environment in private tech preview, leveraging multiple LLMs to automate enterprise software modernization, testing, and security workflows.
- Datavault AI incorporated four independent data exchanges, including International Elements, NIL, Information Data, and American Political Exchange, targeting asset tokenization and data monetization markets.
- Strengthened patent portfolio exceeding 70 patents/filings and initiated an IP enforcement strategy with top-tier banks to protect its tokenomics innovations.
- Raised its Q4-25 outlook to meet or exceed $12–15 million in second-half 2025 revenue, following a $150 million crypto-based seed investment.
- Updated 2026 revenue guidance to exceed its previous $40–50 million range, driven by growth in tokenization, IP licensing, and its Platinum Partnership with IBM.
- IBM and AMD entered a multi-year agreement to deploy a large cluster of AMD Instinct MI300X GPUs, Pensando Pollara 400 AI NICs, and Ortano DPUs on IBM Cloud for Zyphra’s AI model training.
- Zyphra, an open-source AI research company backed by a $1 billion Series A valuation, will use the infrastructure to build frontier multimodal foundation models powering its Maia superagent.
- The initial cluster went live in early September, with planned expansion in 2026, marking IBM Cloud’s first large-scale AMD training deployment.
- IBM will allocate 20,000 hours of solution architects and AI engineers, valued at $5,000,000, to support Datavault AI’s platform build and go-to-market initiatives.
- The commitment includes engineering, technical sales, and quantum computing expertise to integrate watsonx.ai and watsonx.governance into Datavault AI’s roadmap.
- The expanded collaboration aims to accelerate product development, enhance data monetization, and scale adoption across enterprise and government markets.
- According to McKinsey, generative AI could add between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion in annual revenue, highlighting the strategic value of this AI partnership.
- The 2025 report evaluated over 100 small language model (SLM) companies, recognizing the Top 26 as quadrant leaders in SLM innovation and market presence.
- SLMs are defined as AI models with fewer than 2 billion parameters, optimized for on-device and real-time NLP tasks with reduced memory and energy requirements.
- IBM is identified as a Top 3 SLM company, leveraging its Watson AI platform and hybrid cloud offerings to deliver secure, privacy-compliant enterprise AI solutions in sectors like healthcare and finance.
- IBM’s strategy emphasizes model compression, security research, and comprehensive AI governance, strengthening its competitive edge in acquiring high-value contracts.
- IBM and AMD will develop quantum-centric supercomputing architectures combining IBM’s quantum computers with AMD CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs for hybrid workflows.
- The collaboration seeks to create scalable, open-source platforms leveraging strengths in quantum computing and high-performance compute to address complex problems in drug discovery, materials science, and logistics.
- An initial demonstration is planned later this year to integrate IBM Quantum System Two with AMD technologies and showcase quantum-classical hybrid algorithms.
- AMD EPYC™ CPUs and Instinct™ GPUs power the world’s two fastest supercomputers, Frontier and El Capitan, underscoring AMD’s leadership in high-performance computing.