July 10th, 2000

[11:30 AM] Infamous Drudge Report Steps Into Famous Mac Urban Legend by Wes George Today's headline story for the Drudge report screams in all caps "MEGA MERGE: INSIDERS SEE POSSIBLE DISNEY PURCHASE OF APPLE COMPUTER, PIXAR". The Drudge report claims their source told them, "APPLE/PIXAR's Chief Executive Steve Jobs 'may leverage the computer giant and tech-studio to catapult himself to the chairmanship of DISNEY,' one insider close to the action told the DRUDGE REPORT. 'Both companies would be divisions of DISNEY, with Steve being president of both, as well as chairman of WALT DISNEY Co.' A Walt Disney executive was quick to call the report wildly speculative. The Drudge report is an alternative Internet news source notorious for scooping the mainstream media on big stories often by ethically controversial means and with no regard for good taste or decorum. Matt Drudge, the founder, loves the spotlight and has catapulted himself to fame and fortune from total obscurity in only a few years by leveraging the huge popularity of his news Web site. The Drudge Report was first made famous when Matt Drudge broke the Monica Lewinski/President Clinton story. It was not picked up by the mainstream press for several weeks. The Mac Observer Spin: Apple is a corporation and all corporations are, at least theoretically, available for sale at the right price. That said, if Mr. Drudge had performed a routine news search he would have found that his "world exclusive" has, in fact, been reported many times in the last couple of years. As such, the Apple/Disney merger (or some variation thereof) qualifies as a bonafide urban legend and hardly merits heralding as late breaking news. Predictably, naive investors and savvy daytrader are riding the hype this morning to bid Apple (AAPL) and Pixar (PIXR) stock up, while Disney's stock (DIS) is trading lower. Expect Pixar's stock to sell off when the head rush wears off. However, Apple's buzz due to MACWORLD euphoria is still building. Of course, there is always the chance that this Urban Legend has its basis in truth, as so many do. Apple