Report: Apple's Eddy Cue Pushed For An Acquisition Of Time Warner Last Year

According to a report by the Financial Times Apple Inc. AAPL's Eddy Cue entertained the idea of acquiring Time Warner Inc TWX last year.

Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services is said to have raised the acquisition idea when he met with Time Warner's head of corporate strategy, Olaf Olafsson. The two companies gathered together to discuss other commercial matters including adding Time Warner's programming in any future video streaming service Apple plans to offer.

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However, there were no serious negotiations involving Apple's CEO Tim Cook. Nevertheless, Apple is still interested in acquiring media talent and ramping spending on original content worth "several hundred million dollars" per year.

The Financial Times also noted bankers it consulted suggested that Apple may be better off pursuing an acquisition of a streaming video provider such as Netflix, Inc. NFLX, as it would "make it easier for Apple's services to continue to offer a wide range of content makers."

Finally, the Financial Times noted that it is not clear if Apple would revisit an acquisition of Time Warner, even though it is still "considering a range of potential media targets."

Shares of Apple were trading slightly higher by 0.08 percent early Thursday morning while shares of Netflix were higher by more than 4.79 percent.