Rumor mill: Google has eyes for Akamai

A little speculation goes a long way, and that's just what's happening with CDN and application monolith Akamai. Google, it's rumored, is eyeing an Akamai buy, chatter that has enough street cred to have pushed Akamai's stock to its highest point since July 24 during Nasdaq trading Tuesday. The stock closed at $20.81, up 3.38%, or 68 cents, on the day. After hours it continued to spike, reaching at least 21.20 by 7 p.m. EDT.

One market watcher told Bloomberg it's all speculation at this point, adding that it's not the first time Akamai has been rumored to be a takeover target. "They've been under takeover chatter before," said David Lutz, managing director of equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore.

Neither Google nor Akamai offered comment. Akamai is set to release third quarter earning Oct. 28, and Seeking Alpha says the company shows "reasonable potential for years to come," calling it the company to catch.

It's interesting to note that Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Reuters a month ago that the search giant expects to acquire one small company a month as the economy begins its rebound. "My estimate would be one-a-month acquisitions and these are largely in lieu of hiring," he told Reuters. "There may be larger acquisitions, but they really are unpredictable."

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article

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