7. IBM Buys Red Hat
In 2019, IBM made waves by acquiring Red Hat for a staggering $34 billion, marking the largest deal in its history. This bold move wasn’t just about spending big; it was a strategic leap into hybrid cloud, combining Red Hat’s open-source brilliance with IBM’s global reach. The acquisition reshaped the cloud market, surprising many with how far IBM was willing to go to lead the next era of technology.