IBM: Did Watson Predict This?

October 20, 2014

I read “IBM Paying Globalfoundries $1.5 Billion to Take Unit in Retreat From Chips.” Sounds like a good deal. IBM pays $1.5 billion for a company to take a money losing chip operation.

I thought the idea was to buy low and sell high, not pay and then pay high someone to take a product or business. I know the notion of “freemium” gets some chatter, but I think we need another word for this business maneuver.

The write up said:

“IBM has always taken the long view of its business strategy, continuously reinventing,” Tom Rosamilia, IBM’s senior vice president of the systems and technology group and integrated supply chain, said in a blog post today, calling the deal “one more step in the company’s reinvention.”

I wonder if this is a business recommendation from the almost mystical Watson system or if it was the work of humans. If this was the work of Watson, is it a good example of a solid business answer. If it were humans, well, perhaps we learn more about what happens when a company runs out of management steam?

Either way, a business school has a case to feed to the young sharks hungry for business acumen.

Stephen E Arnold, October 20, 2014

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