Boston Scientific is known for making heart devices. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Stryker has made an offer to buy Boston Scientific, a deal that would create one of the largest medical device manufacturers in the world, the Wall Street Journal reports. Boston Scientific's stock shot up on the news, giving it a market cap of about $48 billion.
The big picture: It's still too early to say whether Stryker's takeover aspirations will lead to a final deal, the WSJ said. But a consolidation would give considerably more pricing power to companies that create many widely used devices, like pacemakers and hip surgery implants.