Are Akamai to be purchased by Google?

Content Delivery Network (CDN) firm Akamai is said to be a target for Google, with rumours stating that an acquisition is close to being completed.

Akamai's shares spiked 11% on the speculation, and it's of little surprise that Google would be interested in them given what they could add to the performance of sites such as YouTube, Google+ and even the main Google search engine if they were part of the Google borg.

Both companies declined to comment on the story, saying that they do not comment on rumours.

A source of Reuters believes that the rumour is not well founded and it has also been pointed out that Akamai is a frequent target of the rumour mongers - only a fortnight ago IBM and Verizon were said to be keen on picking up Akamai.

One thing is for certain though ... Google could certainly afford Akamai!