Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) saw its stock jump nearly 20 percent Thursday after the company agreed to acquire its rival Cotendo for $268 million, as it seeks to expand innovations for cloud and mobile optimization.
Under the deal, Akamai said it will buy Cotendo’s outstanding equity for $268 million and will assume unvested stock options.
Akamai said the combination of its technologies and expertise with Contendo’s integrated suite of Web and mobile acceleration services is expected to increase the pace of innovation in the areas of cloud as well as mobile optimization.
Shares of Akamai surged by 19.54 percent rising to $31.88 apiece today on Nasdaq.
Akamai’s chief executive, Paul Sagan said: "As we look to accelerate growth across the dynamic landscapes of cloud and mobile optimization, we are excited to be joining forces with Cotendo.
"Together, we believe there is tremendous opportunity for our combined technologies as enterprises embrace the move to the cloud and seek solutions for an increasingly mobile world.
Cotendo, founded in 2008 and based in Sunnyvale, California, is a content delivery network and an application delivery network service provider.
It has about 100 workers half of them in Israel where it has a technology centre.
Akamai provides services for accelerating and improving the delivery of content and applications, also called cloud computing, through the Internet.
The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is slated in the first half of 2012.
Akamai had sued Cotendo last year for patent infringement; it had also sued, and afterwards bought, Speedera in 2005.
Akamai to buy rival Cotendo for $268 mln
Last updated: 16:15 22 Dec 2011 GMT, First published: 17:15 22 Dec 2011 GMT