San Francisco: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos already owns the Washington Post and now there is some buzz in the investment banking world that he could be interested in buying one of AT&T’s top assets, Cable News Network (CNN).
Although there is no official confirmation of even the start of any formal or informal talks for such a potential deal from any party, some media investment bankers feel that the sale of CNN to the world’s richest person would make sense for both the parties, FOX Business reported on Tuesday.
Rich Greenfield, a partner and media and technology analyst at independent research firm LightShed Partners, earlier tweeted why purchase of CNN by Bezos makes sense.
He recently said that ViacomCBS and Comcast, the parent of NBCUniversal, could be possible buyers of CNN, besides Bezos.
The FOX Business report noted that even though Bezos has not yet expressed any real interest in such a deal, speculation in the investment banking world often serves as a catalyst for deal making even before talks actually start.
The speculation comes at a time when AT&T is required to reorganise its operations and shed parts of its empire following the $85 billion purchase of TimeWarner, said the report.
The 2016 deal which was not completed until 2018 left AT&T with tens of billions of dollars in debt, it added.