Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday October 26, 2012

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday October 26, 2012: General Electric Rumored Bidder for Joy Global The Rumor:
General Electric GE is rumored to have bid $78/Share for Joy Global JOY, according to sources. Alex Roepers of Atlantic Investment Management said at the Value Investing Congress on October 2 that Joy Global could be worth $105 in a takeover. Spokespersons for GE and Joy Global were not available for comment. Joy Global closed at $61.55 Friday, a gain of 3.03% on 2.5 times average volume. Hearing Chatter Microsoft Bidding for Netflix The Rumor:
Microsoft MSFT is rumored to be bidding $90 per share to acquire Netflix NFLX, according to sources. On October 23, there was chatter of interest from Google GOOG and DirecTV DTV. Spokespersons for Netflix and Microsoft were not available for comment. Netflix closed at $69.58 Friday, surging 13% on almost 3 times average volume. WebMD Shares Rise 14% After Hitting 52-Week Low The Rumor:
Shares of WebMD WBMD rallied 14.64% Friday after hitting a new 52-week low of $13.26. A company spokesperson told Benzinga there was no company news released to account for the move and the next public disclosure would take place on November 1 during the company's earnings call. WebMD announced on January 10, 2012 it had ended the sale process. Wayne T. Gattinella resigned his position as CEO and President of the company on the same day. Yahoo YHOO has been mentioned as a potential buyer, along with private equity. Investor Carl Icahn was opposed to a private equity sale. WebMD closed at $15.43 Friday on 5.5 times average volume.