The plans illustrate Microsoft’s latest efforts to develop by offers. Microsoft thought-about shopping for the U.S. operations of video-sharing app TikTok final yr, and final month it accomplished the $7.5 billion acquisition of online game maker Zenimax.

Nuance can be extra aligned with the a part of Microsoft’s enterprise that serves companies and governments. Nuance derives income by promoting instruments for recognizing and transcribing speech in physician’s visits, customer-service calls and voicemails. The corporate reported $7 million in internet earnings on about $346 million in income within the fourth quarter, with income declining 4% on an annualized foundation. Nuance was based in 1992, with 7,100 staff as of September.

Microsoft first approached Nuance in December, the individual mentioned, and is prepared to pay about $56 per share for Nuance, the individual mentioned. That may give Nuance an fairness worth of about $16 billion, representing a 23% premium over the inventory’s Friday closing worth of $45.58 per share.

Bloomberg reported on Microsoft’s plans to purchase Nuance earlier on Sunday. Microsoft declined to remark. A Nuance consultant did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

At $16 billion, Nuance can be Microsoft’s second largest acquisition, after the $27 billion buy of LinkedIn in 2016.

Shopping for Nuance may develop Microsoft’s capabilities in voice software program. Microsoft already has instruments that builders can use to allow purposes to transcribe speech into written phrases, and it incorporates speech recognition into its personal merchandise, such because the Bing search engine and the Groups communication app.

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