Opera Shares Jump Amidst Facebook Takeover Talk

Rumours that Facebook is to acquire mobile browser maker Opera Software have caused the latter’s share price to jump today.

At close on Friday, an Opera share was worth 34.30 Norwegian krone (NOK), but at the time of publication it had hit 41.50 NOK, representing a 21 percent spike. Opera is currently valued at just over 4.8bn NOK (£522 million).

Reports suggested Facebook was interested in acquiring Opera to include its software in a mobile device it was rumoured to be working on. A New York Times report last week claimed Facebook employees had leaked information hinting the company could launch a smartphone as early as next year.

Facebook phone

Facebook has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, according to the report. The company has carried out a number of abortive attempts to make a smartphone before, and has partnered with HTC on Facebook-branded devices.

Mark Zuckerburg’s firm has been doing plenty of acquiring recently. Its biggest purchase was that of photo app maker Instagram for $1 billion. Facebook launched its own photo-taking app last week.

Opera has meanwhile been doing some acquiring of its own this year. The Norwegian company bought two mobile advertising companies – Mobile Theory and 4th Screen Advertising – in February. At the time, Opera hoped the purchases would help it more effectively monetise traffic that flows through Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers.

Facebook would be delighted to get hold of more profitable methods of making advertising. It has had a torrid time since its IPO just over a week ago, with its share price dropping from above $40 to hovering around $30 today on the Nasdaq.

Shareholders are also suing Zuckerburg, Facebook itself and a number of banks for allegedly covering up weakened growth forecast prior to the IPO.

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