Intuit Shares Jump 24% on Speculation About Buyout

Intuit Inc. shares jumped 24% Wednesday amid market speculation that American Express Co. is about to buy the struggling financial management software company.

Shares of Intuit, which publishes the best-selling Quicken personal finance computer program, surged $7 to close at $36.50 on Nasdaq. American Express rose 12.5 cents to $48.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Officials of both companies declined to comment about “market rumors,” and an Intuit spokeswoman called the speculation “wild.”

Analysts said American Express, the charge card and financial services company, would be interested in buying Intuit to enable it to jump into the booming online banking industry.

Intuit, analysts said, might be receptive to an offer because of increasing doubts about its future.

Even if American Express is not interested in acquiring Intuit, other companies may be, analysts said.

More than 9 million people, most of them affluent, use Intuit’s Quicken to manage their finances and do their banking chores through their personal computers.

But Intuit’s growth has stalled amid fierce competition with Microsoft Corp., a onetime suitor of Intuit, and a handful of banks that are offering Internet banking.

“Intuit is staring down the barrel of a gun, and that gun is the Internet, which is making financial management easier,” said Karen Epper, an online banking analyst at market researcher Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.

Until two years ago, Intuit relied heavily on sales of its financial and tax software for its growth. Those sales have slowed as Intuit has cut prices.