DURBAN – WM Morrisons shares jumped on Tuesday as traders cited market rumours that the UK supermarket chain could be subject to a takeover approach by United States-based online retail giant Amazon.com.
The WM Morrisons shares rose as much as 2.9 percent in midday on Tuesday trade and were up 1.9 percent by 2pm, outperforming their UK peers. The FTSE 100 was up 1.5 percent.
Chatter about the rumour was mentioned on the Financial Times’ Alphaville markets chatroom.
The chatroom moderator said: “There’s a mad story going round the traps about Amazon going for Morrison … Looks to me like wild speculation, but stranger things I guess …”
The supermarket chain has struck wholesale supply deals with Amazon and is widely seen as a potential takeover target for the US company as it moves into bricks-and-mortar retailing after its takeover of Whole Foods.
Morrisons was not immediately available for comment.