Netflix (NFLX) stock vaulted higher by some 5 percent in early morning trading on Thursday, following a Financial Times report that said tech giant Apple (AAPL) has expressed interest in acquiring a video streaming company.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior VP of software and services, apparently raised the prospect of buying entertainment giant Time Warner (TWX) at a meeting last year with Olaf Olafsson, Time Warner’s head of corporate strategy, according to the publication, citing three unidentified sources “briefed” on the subject.
It is unclear why the talks fell through, but sources told the FT that talks about Cupertino acquiring Time Warner, which would have given the iPhone maker access to a $60 billion multimedia content empire, didn’t go past a preliminary level and never included Apple CEO Tim Cook or Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkest.
Apple may currently be more interested in acquiring a streaming company such as Netflix rather than a pure content player, the report also said, citing unnamed bankers who worked with Apple.
With over $230 billion of cash on its balance sheet, Apple could easily afford to buy Netflix. The company’s enterprise value is about $44 billion.
Price action: In early trading, Apple fell 0.27% to $99.36, while Netflix climbed to an intraday high of $104.
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