IBM has entered a deal to purchase Apptio for $4.6 billion from Vista Equity Partners, a move that will support the company’s hybrid cloud endeavors.

IBM has been working to transform itself into a hybrid could company, even going so far as to devise a plan to split into two companies and sell off parts of its legacy business. Apptio’s cloud-based platform is designed to help companies gain insights into their spending across cloud environments, including hybrid and multi-cloud. Given IBM’s focus on hybrid cloud, the Apptio acquisition makes sense.

“Technology is changing business at a rate and pace we’ve never seen before. To capitalize on these changes, it is essential to optimize investments which drive better business value, and Apptio does just that,” said Arvind Krishna, CEO and chairman, IBM. “Apptio’s offerings combined with IBM’s IT automation software and watsonx AI platform, gives clients the most comprehensive approach to optimize and manage all of their technology investments.”

“Our customers are evolving to a complex digital-first, hybrid world where technology investments are distributed and decentralized but all innovation must be aligned with clear business outcomes,” explained Sunny Gupta, Apptio co-founder and CEO. “We are so excited to be joining IBM and combining our industry leading offerings with IBM’s global presence and strong portfolio across AIOps, automation and hybrid cloud offerings.”

“We are committed to building resilient enterprise software companies, which has proven to be highly attractive to strategic and financial buyers, as well as public markets,” said Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. “Our investment philosophy, value creation strategy, and industry expertise, enables us to identify and partner with companies that have the potential for long-term success. Apptio has transformed how leading organizations optimize their IT spend and performance for better outcomes. We are proud of these shared accomplishments and look forward to seeing Apptio further evolve with IBM.”

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2023 and caps a string of hybrid cloud acquisitions IBM has made to bolster its efforts.