Amazon Is Not Purchasing Electronic Arts, Faber Says: Gaming Stock Pops Premarket On M&A Rumors

Rumors that e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc AMZN was going to announce an offer to purchase the "Apex Legends" and "Madden NFL" maker Electronic Arts Inc. EA began to circulate Friday morning.

The report originated from the Swedish gaming media company Good Luck Have Fun and was shared by CNBC.

The price of EA stock increased by about 15% following the report, but CNBC quickly reported that Amazon is not interested in buying the video game developer.

“I have talked to some people that would actually know what is going on,” said CNBC’s David Faber. “They say, there is nothing going on. These are people that would be involved,” the CNBC host said.

Acquisition rumors have circulated around EA before. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard ATVI, said in January that his company had thought about merging with EA before Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A) (BRK-B) acquired 9.5% of the business in advance of the proposed Microsoft Corp MSFT merger.

Investors and shareholders questioned EA CEO Andrew Wilson in August about the likelihood of EA being purchased by another business.

Wilson declared that he was "confident and optimistic for our future," but he didn't completely rule out considering takeover offers from other sources.

This is a developing story.

EA Price Action: EA shares were trading 6.75% higher premarket Friday at $136.23.