would buy Red Hat, the biggest vendor of open-source software, would have been considered highly unlikely, 收购最大开源软件供应商红帽子的想法几乎是没有可能的，

not least because of IBM's aversion to big mergers. 主要是因为IBM的对大型企业并购的厌恶。

But on October 28th IBM announced that it would take over the firm for $34bn, 但在10月28日，IBM宣布将以340亿美元的价格收购该公司

which represented a 63% premium over Red Hat's closing share price at the end of the previous week. 较上个周末红帽子的收盘价溢价63%。

Red Hat is no household name, but in the IT industry the firm is considered a big success. 红帽子并不是一个家喻户晓的名字，但在IT行业，这家公司被认为是一个巨大的成功。

Founded in 1993, it reached $2.9bn in revenue in its most recent fiscal year. It takes free open-source software, makes some improvements, 该公司成立于1993年，其最新财政年度收入到达29亿美元。该公司对免费的开源软件进行改善

bundles it with other tools and services such as technical support, and charges a monthly subscription fee. 将其与其他工具和技术支持等服务进行捆绑，并收取月度订阅费。

The first product was a version of Linux, an operating system. 它的第一个产品是一版Linux，一个操作系统。

It later acquired or developed more and more pieces of software that are needed to power computing clouds. 之后公司获得或开发了越来越多启动计算云所需的软件。

One of the latest additions to its collection was OpenShift, a program that allows computing tasks to be easily moved around between data centres. 该公司最新的产品之一是OpenShift，一个可以让计算任务在两个数据中心轻松转移的程序。

IBM, for its part, has been struggling in recent years to transform itself from a firm which made most of its money from it services, software and mainframe computers 就其本身而言，IBM近几年一直在努力将自己从一家主要依靠服务、软件和大型计算机获利的公司

to one that is based on cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). 变成一个以云计算和人工智能（AI）为基础的公司。

After 22 quarters of declining revenue, IBM seemed to be over the worst when its turnover started to increase early this year. 在连续22个季度利润下滑后，IBM似乎熬过了最糟糕的时期—公司营业额在今年早期开始增长。

But in the most recent quarter, revenue dipped again. 但在最新一个季度中，利润再次下跌。

The deal will probably mean that Ginni Rometty, the firm's chief executive, stays on for a few years to see through the integration. 该协议可能意味着公司的首席执行官吉妮·罗睿兰将继续留任几年，以帮助完成公司并购。

Analysts thought she was on her way out, not just because her strategy seemed to be failing, 之前分析家认为她会离开公司，不仅仅是因为她的战略似乎失败了，

but because at 61, she is older than the standard retirement age for IBM bosses of 60. 还因为她已经61岁了，超过了IBM总裁的标准退休年龄—60岁。

More importantly, IBM hopes that the acquisition will give it a chance to catch up in the market for cloud computing. 更重要的是，IBM希望此次收购能给公司一个追赶云计算市场。

Big Blue failed to take the trend seriously in the late 2000s and decided not to invest in a network of huge data centres. 蓝色巨人在21世纪后期没能重视这种趋势，并决定不投资大型数据网络中心。

As a result it has fallen behind the big "public" clouds (as opposed to "private" ones, which only serve a particular company), 因此，它远远落后于那些大型“公共”云（和仅服务于某一家公司的“私有”云相反），

in particular Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. 尤其是亚马逊网络服务和微软Azure。