This week’s rumored acquisition target for Amazon.com is Onsale Inc, the online auctioneer which has recently been repositioning itself towards retail sales of computers and consumer electronics. Shares in Onsale rose 36% to $25.25 on Friday. Onsale was founded in 1995 by ex-Lotus Development Corp chief technologist Gerry Kaplan. Amazon recently took a $45m stake in Sotherby’s, as part of a joint venture to launch an online auction site. Last week, Amazon was tipped to buy online software retailer Beyond.com, although analysts were quick to call the move unlikely. Both rumors come from the same source, the JagNotes web site.
