Time Warner Rebuff of Fox May Not Just Be Negotiating Ploy

Rupert Murdoch tends to finish what he starts. So from the moment the news broke last month that Time Warner had rejected an $80 billion bid by Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, the assumption on Wall Street and in the media world was that it was only a matter of time before a deal was struck.

Since then, though, Time Warner has made it clear that it views Fox’s approach as a hostile takeover, and it has refused to negotiate with Fox. And so the mating ritual begins, as both sides engage in the gamesmanship that accompanies all high-level merger negotiations. But Time Warner’s unyielding stance has at least some analysts wondering if an acquisition really is inevitable.