“Tim Cook is the apple of Goldman Sachs’ eye,” Josh Kosman reports for The New York Post. “Goldman is trying to persuade Apple to make a rival bid for Time Warner, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said.”
“‘They are freaking out trying to convince Apple to come in,’ the source said. Goldman has been left on the sidelines in advising on AT&T’s $85 billion agreement to acquire Time Warner,” Kosman reports. “In 2009, Apple hired Goldman banker Adrian Perica to head its mergers practice, and now he has his staff looking for acquisition targets, the source said.”
Kosmanz reports, “Cook’s company has expressed interest in buying Time Warner in the recent past, and there is some belief that judging from his comments this week, he will not let AT&T carry the day.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good luck with that, Goldman. Tim Cook and the BoD will do whatever they feel is in the best interest of Apple.
Regardless, an $85+ billion acquisition with upwards of 25,000 employees would be quite the project. Doesn’t seem Apple-like to us, but it depends on how valuable Cook & Co. see owning the home to be (Apple TV, HomeKit, future products), how useful Time Warner might be in helping to achieve that, how close (or far) they are to some real meaningful Apple TV content deals, and how committed they ultimately are turning this long-running hobby into something truly meaningful.
