Apple raised the possibility of buying Time Warner, the parent company of Warner Bros., CNN and HBO, according to the Financial Times. While talks never went beyond a preliminary stage, the iPhone maker is still in the market to buy a media company to boost its original content output.
The report quotes three people briefed on the matter, who report the proposal was made last year at a meeting between Eddy Cue, who leads Apple's iTunes, iCloud and Music divisions, and Olaf Olafsson, Time Warner’s head of corporate strategy. The meeting was arranged to discuss possible tie ups between the companies including the inclusion of Time Warner's cable channels on future video streaming services from Apple.
The talks of a buyout never went beyond that stage however, and the sources said Apple CEO Tim Cook and his counterpart at Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes were never involved.
Apple is seeking to find new revenue streams to augment falling iPhone sales, which currently contributes more than 60 percent of total revenue. While the company is developing new hardware, it is also seeking to grow its services division, which for the first time outperformed its Mac sales in the opening three months of 2016.
A person close to Apple told the Financial Times that the company is still in the market to buy a media company and with $233 billion in cash and other securities there are very few companies which are out of its reach — including Time Warner which has a market capitalization of $60 billion.
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