IBM Is Said to Be in Talks to Buy Apptio for Up to $5 Billion

International Business Machines Corp. is in talks to buy software company Apptio as part of a deeper push into automation technology, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The parties are discussing a price in the range of $4.5 billion to $5 billion, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. Apptio is currently owned by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners.

A spokesperson for Vista declined to comment. Representatives for IBM didn’t have an immediate comment. The two sides are in advanced talks and an agreement could be reached over ...