Time Warner Inc. isn’t even on the block yet, but Apple is staying extra close to any possible movement on this front, The Post has learned.
The tech giant is among a handful of companies, all possible suitors of the entertainment company, which has recently come under pressure from activists to sell itself or spin off assets, sources familiar with the situation said Tuesday.
With Time Warner shares closing at $71.06 on Tuesday — well below the $85 offer from 21st Century Fox that its board rejected 18 months ago — the New York company is seen as a sitting duck among media companies because it, unlike its peers, doesn’t have a dual-class shareholder structure.
In addition to Apple, AT&T, which now owns DirecTV, is also seen as a possible Time Warner suitor, as is Fox, which Bloomberg noted would still make a good partner for the Jeff Bewkes-led company.
A Fox spokesperson declined to comment.
Apple is eyeing Time Warner’s assets to ease the launch of a stand-alone streaming TV service, a senior tech insider suggested on Tuesday.
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has struggled to create a skinny bundle of programming from existing content partners. A deal with Time Warner would give Apple most of what it needs: CNN news, Turner Sports and such hugely popular shows as “Game of Thrones” and “Sesame Street” from HBO — not to mention Warner Bros. movies and TV shows.
Eddy Cue, one of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook’s top lieutenants, in charge of content deals, has been keeping tabs on proceedings at Time Warner, a source close to Apple said.
In May, Apple partnered with HBO to help it launch HBO Now, an Internet-delivered TV service, on Apple TV, a box that connects TVs to Web programming.
Reps for Apple and Time Warner declined comment.
Meanwhile, the pressure is growing on Bewkes to agree to a sale — or tame antsy shareholders and activist investors threatening a proxy fight.
Bewkes met investors in a series of closed-door meetings on Monday and Tuesday, telling them, according to sources familiar with the talks, that he’s against a sale or a spinoff of HBO — although he hinted a sale of his media giant could be entertained.
Splitting off HBO or the company’s Turner Broadcasting cable TV division doesn’t make sense in a media world where, increasingly, scale matters, Bewkes said, according to people briefed on the meetings.
“Splitting up can destroy value,” he told an investor in one meeting, citing the breakup of Viacom as an example. Viacom shares have struggled since Chairman Sumner Redstone divided up his media empire a decade ago.
The Post reported Sunday that two of the media giant’s largest longtime investors are running out of patience and would support a sale or a breakup of the company.
Time Warner is worth $100 a share broken up — 40 percent more than its Tuesday close, according to one analyst.
As for Fox, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield told The Post: “I continue to believe that a merger of the two is in both their best interests — no matter what management says.”
He added: “They would have the finance to do it. It would involve selling down satellite TV service BSkyB in the UK and may require other spinoffs.”