“It comes as no surprise at all as Watson Health was described long ago by IBM as a moonshot, but it failed to take off,” said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of Deep Analysis. “That it has been sold to an investment firm means that this is likely not its final resting place, but will likely be tidied up, restructured and then resold at a later date.”

The sale of the Watson unit could foreshadow IBM selling off more of its divisions and technology assets, Pelz-Sharpe said.