AMC Entertainment Inc., whose shares are a favorite of Reddit-inspired day traders, jumped on Thursday after the publication of a French translation of a months-old report speculating Amazon.com Inc. would buy the world’s biggest chain of movie theaters.

The article in Forbes France is dated today, but notes at the bottom it’s a translation of a Forbes US piece. The American version was published last May. Both versions note the Amazon acquisition idea is “pure speculation,” but cite reasons it would make sense, including the financial struggles of AMC and Amazon’s successful content arm Prime Video. Amazon and AMC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

AMC shares jumped as much as 19 per cent in premarket trading and were up 9 per cent to US$6.05 at 9:33 a.m. in New York. The stock had gained 162 per cent this year through Wednesday’s close after getting swept up in the Reddit-board mania that sent stocks such as GameStop Corp. soaring. It also got a boost after it said it raised US$917 million in new funds, which will allow it to get through the next six months of the pandemic and avoid filing for bankruptcy.