AOL Inc shares rose more than 7 percent on Thursday after Adweek reported that the Internet company had hired an investment banker and a law firm.

According to Adweek, teams from investment banking firm Allen & Co and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz met with AOL executives on Wednesday. Wachtell Lipton lawyer Martin Lipton and Allen & Co banker Nancy Peretsman attended the meeting, Adweek said.

AOL, Lipton and Peretsman could not immediately be reached for comment.

But AOL CEO Tim Armstrong told Adweek in an email, There is no deal on the table, no proposed deal, and both parties are on retainer with us and we work with them. Our strategy hasn't changed and we are moving faster than ever on.

Shares of AOL were up 7.4 percent at $13.75 in late trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Michael Erman, Paritosh Bansal, Peter Lauria and Jennifer Saba, editing by Matthew Lewis)