From The New York Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch):
Time Warner Inc. isn’t even on the block yet, but Apple is staying extra close to any possible movement on this front, The Post has learned.
The tech giant is among a handful of companies, all possible suitors of the entertainment company, which has recently come under pressure from activists to sell itself or spin off assets, sources familiar with the situation said Tuesday.
With Time Warner shares closing at $71.06 on Tuesday — well below the $85 offer from 21st Century Fox that its board rejected 18 months ago — the New York company is seen as a sitting duck among media companies because it, unlike its peers, doesn’t have a dual-class shareholder structure.
Note that in that last paragraph, Time Warner rejected an offer by 21st Century Fox, owned (mostly) by the same Rupert Murdoch whose newspaper printed this story. Not saying the rumor is not true, but do consider the source.
More food for thought, this is from the Time Warner Wikipedia page:
The current company consists largely of the assets of the former Warner Communications, as well as HBO (a Time Inc. subsidiary prior to the Warner merger) and the assets of Turner Broadcasting (acquired in 1996). Time Warner currently has major operations in film and television, with a limited amount of publishing operations. Among its assets are New Line Cinema, HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, The CW Television Network, Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim, CNN, DC Comics, Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, Hanna-Barbera, Esporte Interativo, Castle Rock Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios.
That’d be a lot for Apple to assimilate.
Oy. Plus the digital version of all the comics is Amazon’s. So that would be fun.
It’s a really interesting time for Apple, isn’t it?
They’ve got enough cash on hand to become a major player in any new market they could choose to go into. And that’s not to mention Apple Car.
But the thing is, do they want to? And could they, and still be Apple?
I thought the Six Colors year-end poll was illuminating. It seems like Apple is still struggling to adapt to the extraordinary growth they’ve experienced since 2007 (in particular), but even stretching back to Jobs’ return in ’98.
That’s not a dig on Cook – anyone would struggle with this. But it does strike me that there are areas of what Apple does (Hello, iTunes! Music! etc.) that are suffering for a lack of focus and, most likely, resources.
Do you go to what is essentially a conglomerate? (With widely distributed focus?) Would that ruin the Apple experience and brand? Or would it allow relatively free leadership among some fairly varied areas in what is already a somewhat “strung-out” company?
I also have “hobbies” which have taken over most of my time, but don’t recommend that as a business strategy.
This is really interesting. But would TW’s competitors retaliate against Apple? I think it would need to be a separate entity and not just a separate Apple brand. And if such heresy be accepted, then why not stop f’ing around and buy Comcast? That would put the cat amongst the pigeons.
I wonder how this plays into their ongoing discussions with TV networks about an over ATV service? Could be a feint, could be an F-you move (if you guys won’t give us content…). it would be interesting to see how Apple owning HBO would affect Netflix, Hulu, etc.
End of the day this feels like the long ago rumors of Apple becoming a cell phone MVNO – unlikely
The digital versions of all comics belong to torrents.
Check it out.
Perhaps they should get the cloud side of their business straighten out before venturing out to other businesses.