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IBM has announced the sale of its digital products owned by The Weather Company and brands like Weather Underground to investment firm Francisco Partners. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but the deal is expected to be finalized early next year.

The sale marks the end of a seven-year run for The Weather Company at IBM. The technology giant had originally purchased the assets as part of a strategy to enhance its data offering and expand its Watson Internet of Things Unit. However, IBM no longer considers the assets to be a part of its core offering, as it has shifted its focus towards becoming a hybrid cloud and AI company.

Before being acquired by IBM in 2016, The Weather Company was owned by a consortium of private equity firms, including The Blackstone Group, Bain Capital, and Comcast’s NBCUniversal. The Weather brands were acquired by this group in 2008 from Landmark Communications for a reported price of .5 billion.

The digital assets acquired by Francisco Partners, which include the Weather Channel app and the flagship Weather.com site, are separate from the TV brand. The Weather Channel, the linear TV network, was sold by The Blackstone Group, Bain Capital, and NBCUniversal to media mogul Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios in 2018 for approximately 0 million. The TV brand still licenses data from IBM’s Weather assets under a long-term contract.

Francisco Partners aims to expand the content footprint of The Weather Company’s digital assets with a focus on advertising. Weather.com is one of the most visited properties in the U.S. and ranks at the top of the science and education category. With increased investment and resources, The Weather Company plans to move beyond forecasting and provide users with new tools and experiences to understand how weather impacts various aspects of their lives, starting with health and well-being.

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