CVS in talks to buy Aetna?
 

Aetna stock up 11%

CVS that big?
Also, doesn't Aetna do a lot of insurances, not just health? Or was that sold off?

I thought CVS was a drug store chain. Is it something else?

That's the one.
They also run a mail-order business, I think, and one of its clients is Aetna.

OK, that's who I thought. They also do Pharmacy Benefit Management. But I don't see how they could actually "buy" an insurer.

Probably like how Express Scripts "bought" Medco... a fancy term for a merger but technically a sale.

By paying money for it?

IME insurers are owned by holding companies or other insurers. Not by retailers, piano makers or banks, etc.

If the talks are actually taking place (I don't know if they are or not) I suppose the lawyers will figure out how to structure it. Maybe the holding company will own both Aetna and CVS.

I think I'm just as surprised about this rumor as the next guy/girl, but just for some context:

CVS is the 7th largest US company by revenue. In fact, the retail and PBM segments each had more revenue than Aetna did as a whole for 2016. There's some intersegment mix going on, but in total CVS is almost 3x the size of Aetna by revenue. Although the market cap spread isn't as large, CVS still has a 25% edge.

Picking up some medication. Might as well buy some insurance too!