Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino reported on Tuesday that the founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos , is looking to buy CNN , per Mediaite .
According to Gasparino, it is being speculated on Wall Street that the billionaire business magnate, who also owns The Washington Post , has expressed interest in buying the network.
Gasparino said that there is “pretty hot and heavy investment banking speculation that CNN could be for sale, and that the buyer of CNN could be none other than Jeff Bezos.”
The reporter explained that AT&T, CNN’s parent company, is “looking to shed assets,” having spent billions on purchasing Time Warner.
“CNN is an asset that does make money, although it’s in third place in terms of ratings, from what I understand it’s profitable,” Gasparino said, adding that AT&T executives would “like less controversial content.”
“No one really has qualms about Turner Classic Movies, but CNN is a lightning rod and you know why, particularly with Republicans.”
The journalist noted that CNN has declined to comment on the speculation, while AT&T has denied receiving interest from Bezos.
“Still, the reason why we report stories like this deal is because it may be foreshadowing something might come in the future,” Gasparino pointed out.
AT&T formally completed the acquisition of Time Warner in 2019, following a bitter legal fight. As Reuters reported at the time, the Department of Justice tried to block the acquisition, but, after a 15-month-long legal process, the three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously voted in favor of the deal.
The merger was seen as a major event guaranteed to reshape the media industry, which has, in recent years, struggled to compete with companies such as Netflix and Google, which allow users to view content online without the need for a cable subscription.
Critics like Gigi Sohn, who worked at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during Barack Obama’s presidency, said that the blockbuster merger demonstrated why a reform of anti-trust laws is necessary.
Per Forbes , Bezos is the richest man in the world. In August of this year, he became the first-ever person to amass a $200 billion fortune. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic — which is fueling an unprecedented change in consumer behavior — Amazon stock has gone up nearly 80 percent.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , an analysis from the payroll service company Comparisun found that Bezos is on track to become the first trillionaire in world history.