Shares of Western Digital Corp. WDC,
11.7% soared in trading on Wednesday afternoon, to accelerate the S&P 500 SPX,
winners, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the data storage company was in merger talks with Japan-based Kioxia Holdings Corp. in a deal that could be valued at more than $ 20 billion. Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ report said long-running talks have heated up in recent weeks, with a possible deal as early as mid-September. Western Digital would use shares to pay for the deal and the combined company would likely be led by David Goeckeler, its chief executive, according to the WSJ report. Shares have gained 22.5% to date, while the XLK SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF ETF,
it rose 21.0% and the S&P 500 rose 19.8%.