Wall Street loves the idea that Netflix will eventually sell to a much bigger company. It’s a recurring theme that periodically lifts Netflix’s stock, but never materializes.
We asked Reed Hastings if Disney was talking to Netflix, but he didn’t want to comment
Which doesn’t really mean anything, but there you go.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.
For the last week or so, investors have been floating the idea that Disney is a potential Netflix buyer.
It doesn’t seem likely, but I asked CEO Reed Hastings about it this morning anyway, after he spoke at a conference sponsored by the New Yorker: Was Netflix in talks with Disney?
“Can’t comment,” he said.
I tried again. Has Netflix been in talks with Disney in the past? “Can’t comment.”
So feel free to interpret that one any way you want. The most logical way is to assume that Hastings, like most CEOs of public companies, makes a practice of never commenting on M&A reports. That said, if he really wanted to quash this one, he could have just said “No.”
More context: Earlier this week, Disney CEO Bob Iger fielded questions about whether he was interested in Netflix or Twitter.
Like Hastings, Iger didn’t answer the question directly. But he did make comments about the importance of digital distribution and a direct-to-consumer relationship for his company, which made some observers think he was interested in pursuing Twitter.
But as Recode reported Wednesday, Disney is not going to bid for Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
