Financial services company JP Morgan thinks that Apple buying Netflix would be a wise and strategic move, and a great overall acquisition. The more big players competing within a particular industry, the better things are for consumers, at least generally. The entertainment world is no exception, as healthy competition tends to see every studio try and put out the best product it possibly can. Unfortunately, the last couple of decades have seen a trend toward mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment and media worlds, leading to less and less options that are independent from one another.
For example, in 2003, NBC and Universal merged to create the massive conglomerate known as NBC Universal. As if that wasn’t a big enough combo, cable giant Comcast came along in 2011 and bought NBC Universal, creating an even larger multi-headed beast. More recently, telecommunications giant AT&T purchased Time Warner, a company that already owned DC, HBO, and the Warner Bros. film and TV studio. Last year, Disney famously brokered a huge deal to purchase most of Fox, which when finalized will allow the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the welcoming arms of Marvel Studios. Still, the acquisition is expected to cost thousands of jobs, and increases Disney’s ever-growing stranglehold on Hollywood.
Now, an analyst with the financial services company JP Morgan has told CNBC that he thinks Apple should buy Netflix. His reasoning is that Apple is currently sitting on $250 billion in cash, and that acquiring the leading player in the subscription streaming video market would instantly boost Apple’s position in said arena. It would also instantly make Apple credible in the world of producing original content.
Netflix is currently valued at $148 billion, and has $7 billion of net debt. JP Morgan’s analyst speculates that if Apple hoped to acquire Netflix, its total purchase price would likely end up around $189 billion. That said, the analyst recognizes that such a sale is unlikely to take place at this juncture. This isn’t the first time talk of a possible Netflix sale to Apple has surfaced, as early last year the prospect earned attention in financial and media circles.
Apple is presently trying to get its own streaming platform off the ground, and has greenlit multiple original series. The analyst believes that it’ll be very difficult for a new service to make a big dent in the streaming world, even from a company as large as Apple. Therefore buying Netflix and either combining it with Apple’s new platform or using one to promote the other could prove highly beneficial. For consumers though, it’s hard to think of a way Apple buying Netflix would lead to anything positive. Netflix has faults, but their customer service is generally helpful, unlike Apple’s notoriously difficult tech support.
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Source: CNBC
