Over the weekend, the New York Post published a story about a rumor supposedly doing the rounds that Verizon may be out to buy Walt Disney Co. The article opened, “Verizon Communications’ Lowell McAdam could be hiking the Sawtooth Mountains in Sun Valley next week, perhaps in search of his next deal now that the phone company closed its acquisition of Yahoo.”
For Wells Fargo’s highly respected analyst Marci Ryvicker, that story is good for a belly laugh and little more. In a report titled “No Way. No How. No Chance,” Ryvicker wrote: “When we first saw this latest ‘news’ of Verizon looking to buy Disney, we laughed. Out loud. In fact we’re still laughing. 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.” She added: “Perhaps the N.Y. Post mistook the 4th of July for April Fools.”
Ouch.
