Investor: Borders Should Consider Amazon.com Deal

New York City William Ackerman, the billionaire hedge fund manager who is a major stakeholder in Borders Group Inc., said the bookseller should consider approaching Amazon.com Inc. about a possible acquisition, according to the Associated Press.

The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management said Borders, of which the hedge fund owns about 30%, could become the "bricks-and-clicks" component of Amazon's nationwide sales strategy. Borders, which put itself up for sale in March, has about 500 retail outlets across the country.

"Amazon could buy the company for about $400 million to get those locations that would take more than $1 billion to build," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in New York, according to the report. "You have to think of it like how Apple has retail stores across the country."

Ackerman said that once Amazon loses its tax advantage that buying retail locations will make sense, the report said. He believes customers will benefit from getting same-day delivery that a network of retail stores can provide, and Amazon would also get an opportunity to sell other products not currently carried at Border's locations, according to the report.