“In the continuing battle to see who will buy Netflix, we enter into the bottom half of our eight team tournament, with Google and Amazon already scoring victories, it’s time to see which of the following companies will join them in the ‘Final Four,'” Richard Birecki writes for The Motley Fool.
“For the bottomless pockets which Apple has, they have shown remarkable restraint in buying companies, purchasing only if it met its broader strategy, and I just don’t see Netflix fitting in,” Birecki writes. “Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) certainly has the pipes and the distribution network. They also are the parent company of HBO, whom Reed Hastings describes as his biggest competitor. The content that HBOGo streams is pretty much untouchable, and I don’t foresee them sharing the rights to it with anyone. In trying to model HBO, as I mentioned above, Netflix is producing its own shows. I’m positive HBO execs will be watching.”
Birecki writes, “It’s one of those situations where HBO is off limits, but Netflix isn’t. I was often frustrated that I wasn’t able to stream Curb Your Enthusiasm, and I’m sure I’m not the only consumer who would willingly pay a little extra for HBOGo + all the Netflix content. There then, is my argument that it simply makes more sense for Netflix to be acquired by Time Warner at this juncture than it does Apple.”
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