IBM’s Acquisition of The Weather Company’s Product and Technology Businesses

On October 28, 2015, IBM announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Weather Company’s B2B, mobile and cloud‑based web properties, including WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company brand from a consortium comprising two private equity firms, The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, and NBCUniversal. Cravath represented IBM in connection with this transaction. The TV segment, The Weather Channel, will not be acquired by IBM, but will license weather forecast data and analytics from IBM under a long‑term contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Cravath team was led by partner George F. Schoen and included associates G.J. Ligelis Jr., William D. Podurgiel and Tamara S. Smallman on M&A matters; partner J. Leonard Teti II and associate Ashley N. Elnicki on tax matters; associates Matthew Cantor, Michelle M. Garrett and Amy C. Benford on executive compensation and benefits matters; partner Matthew Morreale on environmental matters; and senior attorney Joyce Law and practice area attorney Brian M. Budnick on real estate matters. Justin B. Stein also worked on M&A matters.