UPDATED 13:19 EDT / OCTOBER 13 2011

Google Not Planning to Buy Akamai, Debunks Early Rumors

Yesterday Business Insider reported that internet search giant Google may be planning to acquire Akamai, a web acceleration solutions maker.  This resulted in a 10 percent rise in the latter’s shares, which have been going downhill in the past year due to a report by the company which said it’s struggling to keep up with the competition.  Akamai’s stock lost over 50 percent of its value as its been shrinking its earnings outlook, though it is currently up 58 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $23.95.

“ It was an odd reaction to a story which includes a denial of its own premise: the story said that “a high-level source at Akamai that we talked to shot down Google speculation,” writes Forbes.

Today however, it seems that the claim above was the one that got validated.   Bloomberg reported that not one, but two unnamed sources disclaimed the rumors of such an acquisition.

Rumors that Akamai may be the target of a buyout have been around prior to the Google speculations. Earlier this month some suggested that IBM or Verizon may be interested in acquiring the content delivery network (CDN) services provider.

In  a separate analysis, Forbes estimates that Akamai’s shares could reach $46 thanks to the company’s value-added services. It has been showing some growth recently, including a partnership with Apple to help optimize downloads from the Mac App Store.

Google is also growing. The company made a talent acquisition three days ago by buying social graph analytics startup SocialGrapple. On the same day the internet company announced Dart, a new programming language. According to a leaked memo Google insiders hope it could replace JavaScript at some point, but so far it has received some mixed reactions from developers.


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