A top Apple executive raised the prospect of the iPhone maker buying Time Warner at a meeting with the media group’s strategy chief, according to three people briefed on the encounter.

三名知情人士表示，iPhone制造商苹果(Apple)的一名高管在会见媒体集团时代华纳(Time Warner)的公司战略主管时，提出了收购后者的可能性。

Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple businesses such as the iTunes store, Apple Music and iCloud, broached the idea of a bid at a meeting at the end of last year with Olaf Olafsson, head of corporate strategy at the owner of HBO, CNN and Warner Brothers, the people said.

上述人士表示，去年底，在苹果公司负责iTunes商店、苹果音乐(Apple Music)和iCloud等业务的艾迪•库伊(Eddy Cue)在与时代华纳的公司战略主管奥拉夫•奥拉夫松(Olaf Olafsson)会面时，提出了收购后者的想法。时代华纳拥有美国家庭电影频道(HBO)、美国有线新闻网(CNN)和华纳兄弟(Warner Brothers)。

Discussions about Apple buying Time Warner did not get beyond a preliminary stage and never included Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, nor his Time Warner counterpart, Jeff Bewkes, people familiar with the matter said.

知情人士表示，苹果收购时代华纳的商谈仍处于初始阶段，苹果首席执行官蒂姆•库克(Tim Cook)和时代华纳首席执行官杰夫•比克斯(Jeff Bewkes)还没有参与进来。

But the fact that Apple considered bidding for one of the most prominent media companies — Time Warner has a market capitalisation of almost $60bn — underlines the tech group’s growing desire to offer its own content.

但是，苹果考虑收购最显赫的媒体企业之一的事实，凸显出这家科技集团越来越希望提供自家的内容。目前，时代华纳的市值接近600亿美元。

It also points to Apple’s willingness to consider new areas of growth as sales of its key device, the iPhone, enters a phase of slower growth and its cash pile mounts to $216bn.

这也表明，在其主打产品iPhone的销售进入增长放缓阶段、而其现金储备达2160亿美元之际，苹果愿意考虑新的增长领域。

The meeting at Time Warner’s Manhattan headquarters had been arranged to discuss other commercial relationships between the two companies, such as the potential inclusion of Time Warner’s cable channels in a future Apple video-streaming service.

那次会议是在时代华纳的曼哈顿总部举行的，目的是讨论这两家公司之间的其他商业合作，比如可能把时代华纳的有线频道纳入到未来的苹果视频流媒体服务中去。

Apple and Time Warner declined to comment.

苹果和时代华纳都拒绝对此置评。