Anything can happen—in the TV business and on Wall Street—so here’s one to put up on the bulletin board, just in case.
In response to a report that Verizon was looking to buy The Walt Disney Co., analyst Marci Ryvicker of Wells Fargo put out a report Monday entitled “No Way. No How. No Chance.”
The rest of the report cast more shade on the transaction's potential.
“When we first saw this latest ‘news’ of Verizon looking to buy Disney, we laughed. Out loud. In fact we’re still laughing,” Ryvicker wrote. “What would a wireless juggernaut want with a theme park, a YUGE consumer products line and the various movie studios. Maybe Verizon would be interested in ESPN—if ESPN were to be spun out.”
In conclusion, Ryvicker said she does not—in capital letters—believe Verizon is contemplating the purchase of Disney.
“Perhaps the N.Y. Post mistook the 4th of July for April Fools," she said.
