Media Analyst Predicts Microsoft Will Buy Netflix As A Streaming Play

Content is a hot game, and one expert has a eye-catching prediction for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s plans. 

Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners, thinks Microsoft will soon bid for Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) to tap into the lucrative streaming business and build a content library.

“They're moving as fast they can into the cloud business,” Bibb said Tuesday on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “They don't have any direct-to-the-consumer content delivery.”

Netflix has long been regarded as an attractive target for Microsoft, which could bolster the streaming platform's original content by funding projects with more A-list talent. Back in 2013, CNBC’s Jim Cramer posited that Netflix could help Microsoft get “its groove back.”

Notably, Netflix trades at nearly double the value it held during earlier predictions. The $139.27 billion-market-cap company isn’t exactly out of reach for Microsoft, though, as the potential buyer tallied $132.27 billion in cash and short-term investments last quarter.

Any such merger would extend a period of major consolidation in the media space, where AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is pursuing Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX), and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class A (NASDAQ: FOXA) is appealing to both Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA).

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