PE OWNED · ON WATCH
The Weather Company
Includes Weather.com, Weather Underground, Wunderground, Storm Radar
tech · Atlanta, GA
- PE Firm
- Francisco Partners
- Year Acquired
- 2024
A PE firm now owns the weather forecast. Even the radar has a subscription tier.
Too Soon to Tell
- Francisco Partners completed its acquisition of The Weather Company from IBM in February 2024, moving the forecast millions of Americans check every day into PE hands
- The acquisition includes Weather.com, Weather Underground, and Storm Radar, the consumer properties more than 360 million people check every month, plus the company's enterprise data services for broadcast, media, aviation, and advertising
- IBM retained its Environmental Intelligence Suite but sold the consumer-facing products. The part that makes money from regular people is now PE's to squeeze.
Early Signs
- No PE-specific consumer harm documented yet. Francisco Partners completed the deal in early 2024 and has kept existing leadership in place.
- Weather.com was already one of the most ad-cluttered sites on the internet; PE ownership creates incentive to push that further
- Premium subscription tiers gate ad-free weather access — checking tomorrow's forecast shouldn't require a monthly payment, but here we are
Sources
- Francisco Partners Completes Acquisition of The Weather Company — Francisco Partners(2024-02-01)
- IBM sells The Weather Company assets to Francisco Partners — TechCrunch(2023-08-22)
- Weather Premium — weather.com(2026-06-18)
- Francisco Partners to acquire The Weather Company assets from IBM — PR Newswire(2023-08-01)