Oracle to buy medical records firm Cerner for $28.3b

NEW YORK — Tech giant Oracle will buy Cerner, which makes software that hospitals use for digital recordkeeping, for $28.3 billion, the companies announced on Monday.

"Working together, Cerner and Oracle have the capacity to transform healthcare delivery by providing medical professionals with better information — enabling them to make better treatment decisions resulting in better patient outcomes," Oracle's Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison said in a statement.

The deal is Oracle's "largest-ever" acquisition, and according to the statement will see the company pay $95 in cash for each share of Cerner, with an expected closing date of the end of next year.

Cerner will be a "huge additional revenue growth engine for Oracle for years to come as Oracle expands Cerner's business into many more countries throughout the world", the statement said.

Oracle is one of the US tech industry's largest firms, and is worth nearly $260 billion on Wall Street.

Its purchase of Cerner will "provide our overworked medical professionals with a new generation of easier-to-use digital tools that enable access to information via a hands-free voice interface to secure cloud applications", Ellison said.

Founded in 1979, Cerner makes software to help doctors and nurses keep track of patients' records at more than 27,500 hospitals and clinics worldwide.

The company is based in Kansas City, Missouri, and has more than 28,000 employees.