Borders urged to seek Amazon bid

Billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackerman said Borders Group Inc. should consider approaching online retailer Amazon.com Inc. about a possible acquisition.

The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management said Borders, of which the hedge fund owns about 30%, could become the “bricks-and-clicks” component of Amazon’s nationwide sales strategy. Borders, which put itself up for sale in March, has about 500 retail outlets across the country.

“Amazon could buy the company for about $400 million to get those locations that would take more than $1 billion to build,” he said.