Apple Inc (AAPL)

[ljk]

This could account for DIS's move up for the past few days. I sold, thinking I'd buy back on pullback. So if it keeps running on the basis of this rumor I wouldn't benefit. I'd have thought this rumor ridiculous till the Pixar buyout. Now, it's just a stretch:

Apple could bid for Disney: Barron's
By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:07 PM ET Feb 25, 2006

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Barron's on Saturday said it's possible that Apple could make a bid to buyout Disney after CEO Steve Jobs becomes the legendary entertainment firm's largest shareholder.

Jobs, who is the CEO of computer animation business Pixar (PIXR : 63.81, +0.50, +0.8% ) as well as Apple (AAPL : 71.46, -0.29, -0.4% ) , will own 7% of Disney (DIS :27.98, +0.27, +1.0% ) after that firm's agreement to acquire the maker of movies like Toy Story and Finding Nemo.

"I think he has an open option," Barron's quoted analyst Christopher Whalen, a New York-based managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics. "Disney is badly undervalued right now. Jobs might get an opportunity to take it out."
Whalen argues that Jobs' unique familiarity with both the content and technolgy sides of Hollywood make the case for a bid more compelling.

"The markets and Disney shareholders would welcome a merger led by their apparent savior, Steve Jobs," Whalen concluded.