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No Amazon/Wal-Mart deal?
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March 6, 2001: 4:35 p.m. ET
Alliance between popular online retailer and Wal-Mart hits skids, report says
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A strategic alliance between popular online retailer Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is on the skids, a press report said Tuesday.
The two firms have held exploratory talks about a possible alliance but the discussions are no longer active, the Wall Street Journal's online version reported Tuesday. However, the newspaper did not rule out a possible deal in the future.
Talks of a linkup have caused Amazon.com shares to skyrocket, gaining 26 percent Monday and climbing Tuesday morning by 11 percent before dropping in the afternoon. Shares for Amazon closed down 75 cents to $11.88 while Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart rose $1.03 to $49.40.
Both Wal-Mart and Amazon.com declined to comment.
 The partnership would give Seattle-based Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates) a presence in Wal-Mart's 4,500 stores, a cash injection and a percentage of sales it makes through Wal-Mart, press reports said.
London's Sunday Times had said that a deal between the two firms could be finalized within six weeks.
Influential Merrill Lynch Analyst Henry Blodget said in a note Monday that an alliance would give Amazon.com a presence in physical-world locations with enormous traffic and that it would be an effective marketing vehicle.
He added that a deal likely would shift attention from Amazon's potential financial difficulties, giving the stock a boost. For Wal-Mart, an Amazon.com alliance would let the giant retailer focus on store-based retailing and "outsourcing" its e-commerce end to Amazon, reaching more than 29 million customers worldwide. 
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