Amazon spends $131 million for stake in cargo airline ATSG

Amazon.com Inc. has scooped up a minority stake in a cargo airline that operates a portion of its fast-growing air-cargo division, the latest sign of the retailer’s long-term ambitions to expand its air-freight operations.

Amazon spent $131 million to acquire about 13.5 million shares of Air Transport Services Group Inc., the air cargo operator said in a securities filing on Monday, exercising warrants Amazon had previously acquired. Amazon also acquired roughly 865,000 additional shares through an agreement in which no cash changed hands. The purchases are contingent upon approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation, ATSG said.

ATSG shares rose almost 5% at 12:21 p.m. in New York. Amazon was mostly unchanged.