There is a 40% chance of Apple buying Netflix as of now. Citi analysts reported the corporate tax cut by President Trump has caused the surge in interest.
Businessinsider says that the new corporate tax cut – “along with a one-time allowance for companies to repatriate cash stored overseas without worrisome hits” — will fatten Apple’s purse, and the extra money could be utilized for buying new companies. As reported, Apple has $252 billion, with most of the money stashed under foreign jurisdiction. They would need to spend only a third of that cash to buy out the streaming monster.
Talks about Apple’s acquisition of Netflix have been doing rounds for over a year now, but, earlier, the deal between the two companies appeared improbable. But, now the corporate tax cut, has changed the game. At present, it seems that the two haven’t yet started official discussions, implying that a deal is a long time away from being confirmed, but, Apple is certainly getting closer to doing that.
In the recent times, streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix have grown huge aided by original content, but, Apple has been finding it tough to extend beyond iTunes. Acquiring Netflix, which had last year declared plans to spend $1 billion on original programming, would facilitate Apple’s expansion.
Apple’s possible purchase of Netflix gains traction after the Fox/Disney deal allowing Disney to buy most of Fox properties. That deal is also about a year from being legally approved, but, this might just be one of the several takeovers of 2018.
