Is Netflix On The Block ?



So it looks like a bid is likely for Netflix.

This is hardly surprising, with the winds changing direction in the streaming space as new players pile In, surely this is the time for the shareholders of this hugely innovative and pioneering company to maximise their return.

This is not the first time that Amazon has had exit discussions. Apparently Amazon had a bubble twenty years ago, when Netflix was a mail order DVD rental firm https://www.fastcompany.com/90404006/how-jeff-bezos-almost-bought-netflix-for-15-million. Amazon went on to buy the UK based LoveFilm for £200m in 2011 to kick start their rental business.

So, who’s in the frame ? The major US content players are maxed and stretched either regulatory, in the case or Comcast (who exited from Hulu but may find another acquisition challenging) or financially in the case of the other networks.

Major European broadcasters and content owners are probably too small (the highly acquisitive Banijay, for example).

That leaves two sources - Asian investors in the form of Middle Eastern or Chinese money, or Big Internet. Netflix would slot in nicely with Apple, and Facebook and Google have the chequebooks to play also.

Of course, shareholders may choose to tough it out. It’s going to be an interesting time in the development of internet TV. Barely have we caught our breath from the launch phase and we’re into a period of consolidation.