Five notes:
1. IBM is looking into alternatives for the health unit, including a potential sale to a private-equity firm or industry player or a merger with a development stage company, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
2. IBM Watson Health, which offers AI tools for hospitals and other healthcare organizations to manage their data, has about $1 billion in annual revenue and isn’t profitable, according to the report.
3. IBM Watson Health’s brands include MRI and mammogram software analysis company Merge Healthcare; patient communications service Phytel; and healthcare data analytics platform Truven Health Analytics.
4. It’s unclear how much money the sale of IBM Watson Health would generate for IBM, which shifted company focus last year with new CEO Arvind Krishna.
5. Under Mr. Krishna’s leadership, IBM is focusing on increasing its hybrid cloud operations. Last October, it announced plans to spin off its IT infrastructure division into a new company so it could prioritize cloud computing for its legacy business.
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