Symantec Corp. , known for its Norton antivirus software, is close to acquiring Veritas Software Corp. for more than $13 billion, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
A deal would be one of the largest software mergers, the Times said.
Negotiations have lasted for more than a month and are almost complete, leading to the announcement of a possible deal as early as this week, executives close to the negotiations told the newspaper.
Shares of Veritas jumped 16.6 percent to $29.37 in premarket trade on INET, up from a Monday close of $25.19 on Nasdaq.
Based on Veritas' 437.7 million shares outstanding according to its third-quarter earnings statement, the reported price would value the company at about $29.70 per share.
Symantec, which is based in Cupertino, California, makes computer and network security software, while Mountain View, California-based Veritas makes data storage and protection software.
Symantec and Veritas could not be reached for comment.