Microsoft wins approval from US antitrust regulators to buy AI firm Nuance as it looks to bolster healthcare business

• Microsoft has won antitrust approval to acquire AI and voice communications company Nuance.
• Nuance said in an SEC filing that the government's deadline to object to the deal expired June 1.
• Microsoft's deal to buy Nuance for $19.7 billion is still awaiting regulatory approvals elsewhere.

Microsoft has won US antitrust approval for its deal to buy artificial intelligence and speech technology company Nuance Communications, according to a filing made by Nuance to the government.

The $19.7 billion deal, which was announced in April, came after the companies partnered in 2019 to automate healthcare administrative work, such as documentation.

Nuance said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that the deadline for the US government to object to the deal had expired on June 1.

That expiration "satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the merger," the company said in the filing.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said in a statement that the deal was undergoing regulatory reviews in other jurisdictions and was intended to close at the end of 2021.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Bill Berkrot)