Here are 9 companies IBM could buy given that new CEO Arvind Krishna said that it will get back to its 'acquisitive strategy' in a few months, according to experts (IBM)

IBM had expected to slow down its M&A since buying Red Hat last year for $34 billion. But new CEO Arvind Krishna said on his first earnings call last month that the company plans to resume its "acquisitive strategy" in several months. He's focused on boosting IBM's position in AI and hybrid cloud, he said. Here are 9 companies experts say IBM could seek to buy, including Snowflake, Automation Anywhere, and Datarobot. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

IBM is known as one of the most acquisitive companies in the world. But the tech giant was expected to go slow on the M&A front after buying Red Hat for $34 billion last year, the biggest acquisition in IBM's history.

"We've focused all of our M&A effort on Red Hat in the last 18 months," IBM senior executive Rob Thomas told Business Insider in February when the company unveiled a new AI imitative. "$34 billion consumes a lot of time and energy."

Shortly after the interview, the coronavirus crisis pandemic led to global economic downturn. Suddenly, the tech landscape has changed. The economic slump has disrupted the sector, crushing valuations to the point that experts expect a rash of M&A activity.

In fact, when IBM reported first quarter results last week, new CEO Arvind Krishna indicated that Big Blue was prepared to begin buying again.

"You should expect that over time — over time meaning just that as it gets past the next few months — we will get back to an acquisitive strategy," he told analysts on the company's first quarter earnings call. "We've been clear that we will acquire when we find properties that are both attractive or that fit our strategy and hybrid cloud and AI are the focus of our business going forward."

With that in mind, here are 9 companies that experts say IBM could try to buy:

Original author: Benjamin Pimentel