“Rupert Murdoch looks to have been canny in his $80 billion takeover approach to Time Warner Inc, cornering the media giant at a time when potential ‘white knight’ bidders are busy absorbing their own large deals,” Liana B. Baker reports for Reuters. “The absence of potential counter-bidders leaves Time Warner’s investors with a dilemma. They can either engage with Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc to negotiate a higher price, or play for time and wait until there are more potential buyers available.”
“Time Warner, owner of many highly-prized assets from HBO to Warner Bros, has rejected Fox’s initial cash-and-stock proposal of $85 per share. An eventual deal would transform the U.S. media landscape and cement Murdoch’s status as the most powerful magnate in U.S. media and entertainment,” Baker reports. “When Time Warner’s board rebuffed the approach it indicated it believes now is the wrong time to sell because the environment isn’t conducive to getting the best price, people familiar with Time Warner’s thinking said on Wednesday. That is mainly because a range of major media, telecom and technology companies [Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, and others] are for various reasons not in a position to make a rival offer.”
“Time Warner shareholder Mario Gabelli told Reuters Insider TV on Wednesday that he thought both Google and Apple were possible bidders,” Baker reports. “But for now, Google’s investment in content is focused on its YouTube unit while Amazon has spent money on original TV shows for its online video service. Apple’s media bets have so far been on music, illustrated by its purchase of Beats Music in May for $3 billion.”
“For Fox, stars seem to be aligned for a deal. Financing remains cheap, making it easy for Fox to borrow the cash it will need for the deal. Its stock, which Fox wants to use to finance 60 percent of its bid, is trading at a lofty multiple to earnings,” Baker reports. “‘In our experience, if Mr. Rupert Murdoch wants an asset, he will wait and pay to get it,’ ISI analyst Vijay Jayant said.”
Read more in the full article here.
Let me fix that: ‘Rupert Murdoch pouncing on Time Warner while Apple doesn’t care because it doesn’t want them.’
Thank You! At this point in time, Time Warner is a rat’s nest of self-destructive work culture and outrageous abuse of its customers. Apple needs to get bitten by those rat’s teeth like it needs a two tons of FAILed Microsoft Surface tablets dumped on its lawn.
“Its customers”? You’re not thinking of Time Warner Cable, are you? That’s not part of Time Warner the media conglomerate.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just wondering what the “customer abuse” was.
——RM
Wish you luck on that one, we all know what a wonderful honest, dependable, moral and truth orientated leader Murdoch is. The Putin of the media sphere, careful where you leave your back.
I keep wishing for a blood pressure related incident to lay him out and end his reign of corruption and deceit, IMHO of course. 😈
Rubbish.
Does anyone remember the disastrous AOL- Time Warner merger? Why would anyone want to consider a similar deal? Murdoch, perhaps. But it would be an odd fit at best for Apple, a clash of different corporate cultures.
Besides, Apple doesn’t do deals like the one above. The headline is mere click-whoring.
We are all less intelligent for having read this piece of crap. (And I’m referring to the article, not my comments. There. I feel better now.)
I believe Comcast is the other bidder for Time Warner. There’s a petition going around the internet which I signed to block Comcast from purchasing Time Warner and becoming the largest cable company. That would be a disaster if that happens.
No, Comcast only wants Time Warner Cable, which Time Warner AOL (or whatever they are this week) is casting off from the rest of the company. Think of it as Time Warner Inc. taking a dump on the information superhighway and Comcast coming over to sniff it while thinking about eating it.
:-Q*****
More precisely, Time Warner spun off TWC into it’s own company a long time ago. That’s why it took forever for TWC customers to get access to HBO Go. That confused the hell out of me until I learned they were two separate companies.
(Why the heck didn’t TWC rename itself? Is there really that much value in calling yourself “Time Warner” if all you’re doing is selling cable and internet?)
——RM
Thank you LordRobin! I didn’t follow the history of the association between the two. Wikipedia points out:
Originally controlled by Warner Communications, later Time Warner (the film and television production company and cable channel operator), that company spun out the cable operations in March 2009 as part of a larger restructuring.
There is still a minor connection between the two companies, as stated on the Time Warner Cable ‘About’ page:
Time Warner Cable and the Time Warner Cable logo are trademarks of Time Warner Inc., used under license.
My series of articles about TWC’s abuse of customers is over at:
http://www.zunipus.blogspot.com
This dishonest con already has enough control over media. We don’t need anymore propaganda from the likes of Murdoch.
Definitely a perfect acquisition target. Where Apple has a soul, Time Warner can complement them perfectly by its lack of a soul. It’s a perfect match in every category you can come up with. Apple makes amazing quality products, Time Warner peddles shit. They wouldn’t have to lay anyone off because no one at either company is doing remotely the same thing.
You’re drawing a parallel with the IBM-Apple partnership, sly mockery that.