Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday May 1, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday May 1, 2014: Report AT&T in Talks to Acquire DirecTV The Rumor:
AT&T T is said to have approached DirecTV DTV regarding a potential acquisition, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The deal could be worth $40 billion, according to sources. Spokespersons for both companies declined comment to Benzinga on the report. DirecTV closed Thursday at $80.76, a gain of 4% on more than twice average volume. Pfizer May Raise Bid for AstraZeneca to $106M The Rumor:
Pfizer PFE plans to raise its bid to around $106 million for AstraZeneca AZN, according to sources being reported by Bloomberg. The offer would value AstraZeneca at more than £50 per share. Sources say, the new offer could come as early as next week. AstraZeneca confirmed on April 28 that they had rejected Pfizer's $76.62 per share offer. AstraZeneca closed Thursday at $81.09, a gain of 2.5%. Pfizer closed at $31.15, a loss of $0.13. Microsoft Acquires Cloud-Computing Company GreenButton The Deal:
Microsoft MSFT announced on its blog Thursday the acquisition of cloud computing company Greenbutton. Microsoft says the existing GreenButton service will no longer be available to new customers and a new service integrated in Azure will be launched later in the year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Microsoft closed Thursday at $40.00, a loss of $0.40. Report Bayer Near Deal to Acquire Merck Consumer Unit The Rumor:
Bayer BAYRY is reportedly close to a deal to acquire the consumer products unit from Merck MRK, according to sources reported by Bloomberg. According to sources, the bid will be around $14 billion. Reckitt Benckiser RBGPF said on Wednesday it was no longer in talks with Merck regarding a deal. Merck closed Thursday at $59.62, a gain of almost 2%.