iPhone蘋果考慮收購時代華納

A top Apple executive raised the prospect of the iPhone maker buying Time Warner at a meeting with the media group’s strategy chief, according to three people briefed on the encounter.

三名知情人士表示，iPhone製造商蘋果(Apple)的一名高管在會見媒體集團時代華納(Time Warner)的公司戰略主管時，提出了收購後者的可能性。

Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple businesses such as the iTunes store, Apple Music and iCloud, broached the idea of a bid at a meeting at the end of last year with Olaf Olafsson, head of corporate strategy at the owner of HBO, CNN and Warner Brothers, the people said.

上述人士表示，去年底，在蘋果公司負責iTunes商店、蘋果音樂(Apple Music)和iCloud等業務的艾迪•庫伊(Eddy Cue)在與時代華納的公司戰略主管奧拉夫•奧拉夫鬆(Olaf Olafsson)會面時，提出了收購後者的想法。時代華納擁有美國家庭電影頻道(HBO)、美國有線新聞網(CNN)和華納兄弟(Warner Brothers)。

Discussions about Apple buying Time Warner did not get beyond a preliminary stage and never included Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, nor his Time Warner counterpart, Jeff Bewkes, people familiar with the matter said.

知情人士表示，蘋果收購時代華納的商談仍處於初始階段，蘋果首席執行官蒂姆•庫克(Tim Cook)和時代華納首席執行官傑夫•比克斯(Jeff Bewkes)還沒有參與進來。

But the fact that Apple considered bidding for one of the most prominent media companies — Time Warner has a market capitalisation of almost $60bn — underlines the tech group’s growing desire to offer its own content.

但是，蘋果考慮收購最顯赫的媒體企業之一的事實，凸顯出這家科技集團越來越希望提供自家的內容。目前，時代華納的市值接近600億美元。

It also points to Apple’s willingness to consider new areas of growth as sales of its key device, the iPhone, enters a phase of slower growth and its cash pile mounts to $216bn.

這也表明，在其主打產品iPhone的銷售進入增長放緩階段、而其現金儲備達2160億美元之際，蘋果願意考慮新的增長領域。

The meeting at Time Warner’s Manhattan headquarters had been arranged to discuss other commercial relationships between the two companies, such as the potential inclusion of Time Warner’s cable channels in a future Apple video-streaming service.

那次會議是在時代華納的曼哈頓總部舉行的，目的是討論這兩家公司之間的其他商業合作，比如可能把時代華納的有線頻道納入到未來的蘋果視頻流媒體服務中去。

Apple and Time Warner declined to comment.

蘋果和時代華納都拒絕對此置評。