eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) was quick to respond to a rumor that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) was considering buying a 40% stake in it. The online auction giant’s stock climbed by nearly 5% in very heavy trading volume earlier this morning after three traders claimed that Google could buy a stake.
According to Reuters, two of the traders are based in Europe, while the third is based in the U.S.
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eBay says “no conversations” with Google
Shortly after the rumor surfaced, an eBay spokesperson said they have not been speaking with Google about a 40% stake. She said they’ve had “no conversations with Google” about the search giant buying stake. Google also denied the rumor, according to Benzinga. It was said that activist investor Carl Icahn was behind the deal as a way for Google to better compete with Alibaba and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
This morning’s rumor indicated that eBay and Google were waiting to announce the stake until after more details about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s new Pay service are unveiled. That’s according to Tweeters, which cites an unnamed source. The buy price was said to be $68 per share or $85 billion.
Reuters reports that options volume also rose significantly, spiking to 2.4 times the normal level. The markets recorded 98,000 puts and 26,000 calls being traded as of late this morning.
Other eBay news
In addition to the Google rumor, The Street also suggests that investors may be positive on eBay because of its plans to start running ads on its mobile app. The online auction company said it plans to do that in the fourth quarter. Currently eBay users spend 150 minutes using its app every month. That’s triple its closest rival, according to the company’s North America display ad chief.
eBay management they can tailor their ads better because users will be using just one login on all of their devices