Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Cisco pushes into artificial intelligence. Media mogul Murdoch steps down. BOJ meets Friday. Here’s what you need to know today.

Cisco Systems is buying Splunk in a deal valued at about $28 billion, representing its biggest acquisition yet and a massive push into software and artificial intelligence-powered data analysis. Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Woo Jin Ho described it as “the Moby Dick” of deals. Under CEO Chuck Robbins, Cisco has been trying to lessen its dependence on one-time sales of expensive hardware and shift toward software and services. Splunk will help Cisco reach a broader base of customers.