Apple Has a Close Eye on Multinational Media Corporation Time Warner

Although multinational media corporation Time Warner isn’t officially up for sale yet, Apple is allegedly keeping a “close eye” on any movement from the company. According to the NY Post, Apple may be looking to buy the media corporation, or at least a spinoff of it in a possible endeavor to assist their efforts in creating a television subscription service.

According to the NY Post, Apple is among “a handful of companies” that are all “possible suitors” of Time Warner, which “has recently come under pressure from activists to sell itself or spin off assets.” Time Warner’s stock closed at $71.06 per share on Tuesday, a substantial drop from the $85/share buyout offer from 21^st Century Fox that was rejected a year and a half ago. Time Warner is now seen as a “sitting duck among media companies because it, unlike its peers, doesn’t have a dual-class shareholder structure.”

Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes recently told investors that he is against selling spinoffs of the company, such as premium cable and satellite network HBO, stating “splitting up can destroy value.” Although he never outright said it, however, Bewkes did indicate that he would possibly entertain a sale of the company.

A purchase of the media corporation could allow Apple to go forward with their plans to introduce a subscription-based streaming television service for Apple TV and iOS users. Progress on the long-rumored service recently stalled out, as Apple and the heads of television networks failed to come to an agreement on pricing for rights to television content.

Apple’s plan to offer a “skinny bundle” of popular channels to users at a significantly reduced price than those offered by cable and satellite companies didn’t sit well with television executives. However, purchasing Time Warner would cut out the middle man for much of the content Apple desires – Warner Brothers movies and television shows, CNN news, Turner Sports, and content from HBO, including popular shows such as “Game of Thrones” and now “Sesame Street”.

Although rumors of the buyout should, at the moment, be taken with a grain of salt, Apple certainly has the finances to pull off such a feat. Apple CEO Tim Cook did state that the new Apple TV is “the foundation of the future of TV” – this buyout could be catalyst for Apple revolutionizing the television industry as it did the music industry.