Oracle has reached an agreement to buy Cerner for $95 per share or $28.3 billion in equity, it announced on Monday. The enterprise software company will acquire the medial records giant in what would be its largest acquisition ever, according to CNBC.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Friday that Oracle was in talks to buy Cerner, and the deal was officially announced in a joint statement by both companies on Monday.
The acquisition is part of Oracle's strategy to move into the health care space and is expected to close next year. According to the statement, Oracle thinks Cerner will boost revenue as part of a strategic move to digitize electronic health records. Cerner also already operates on the Oracle Database and will join Oracle as a dedicated industry business unit upon completion of the deal.