Following Roomba Acquisition, Amazon Eyes London's Ocado for Next Major Tech Investment

Amazon.Com, Inc AMZN and several other techs "heavyweights" weighed a bid worth 800p per share for Ocado Group PLC OCDDY OCDGF.

Ocado builds robots and software that help deliver groceries online.

"A deeper consideration of the strategic logic and the actual likelihood of an official takeover approach will have to wait for more details," Bloomberg cites Jefferies analyst Giles Thorne.

Jefferies has had a hold recommendation on Ocado since at least December 2021.

Shares out on loan, an indication of short interest, represent about 15% of Ocado's free float as of Tuesday, per S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Last week, The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared Amazon's purchase of Roomba maker IRobot Corp IRBT.

iRobot designs and builds consumer robots, including robot vacuum cleaners sold under the 'Roomba' brand. The CMA has concluded that the deal would not hamper competition in the U.K.

Price Action: AMZN shares traded higher by 0.34% at $125.25 premarket on the last check Thursday.