There are a handful of companies I consider innovative and well positioned to dominate the new digital era: Google, Apple, and Amazon are my picks. Cisco can be such a company but I don’t see enough innivation from them to join the big boys.
As a big movie fan I love Netflix. It is s a perfect fit for Amazon to buy them. If I am running Amazon I would have bought them a while ago.
It seems that Jeff Bezos is thinking along the same lines.
Netflix (NFLX) option activity is jumping as scuttlebutt says the company could be a takeover target.
Earlier today, Reuters reporter Anupreeta Das tweeted “Netflix-Amazon rumor doing rounds of options market again.”
While we read on Fly On The Wall, the rumor mill/financial news aggregator, “Netflix calls active on renewed takeover chatter.”
The January $55 and $60 call options have had larger than normal trading volume. For the day, Netflix’s stock is only up 0.98% to $54.49.
In July, Netflix’s stock had a 6.6% one day jump as rumors spread that Amazon (AMZN) would buy the company.
Update: Om Malik has a good post on why it makes so much sense for Amazon to buy Netflix.
The benefits of a merger are clear. The companies are simpatico: Earnings and revenue growth rates are comparable; and corporate cultures are similar — innovative and centered on a positive consumer experience. Amazon finally gets an online-video business that consumers flock to. As Netflix moves from DVDs by mail to video over IP, it can tap into Amazon’s vast computing platform. And integrating Netflix recommendations with IMDB’s inelegant but indispensable movie database could produce the premier search-and-discovery engine for film lovers.