Twenty years ago, Walt Disney Co.'s board turned to the deep pockets of the Bass brothers of Texas to help ward off a hostile takeover by such corporate raiders.
On Monday, Disney directors formally rejected the latest run at their company -- an unsolicited offer by cable giant Comcast Corp. Although it remains unclear whether Comcast has just begun to fight, this much is certain: There aren't any obvious Bass brothers waiting in the wings.
The odds are long of another company coming to the rescue or storming the Magic Kingdom, analysts and investors say. Some face regulatory hurdles, don't have the money or have little appetite for the kind of mega-mergers that backfired on AOL Time Warner and Vivendi Universal.
Still, with the famous Disney name in play, it's enough to give pause to any media conglomerate or mogul.
"I don't think there are any obvious white knights here," said Lowell Singer, a media analyst with SG Cowen Securities. "But there are certainly some other companies out there who've probably spent more than a couple of minutes contemplating this."
Here's a look at a few of the companies and tycoons who may be crunching some numbers.
* Liberty Media
The chairman of Liberty Media, John Malone, is a cable man at heart. He's never been a fan of the volatile nature of Hollywood enterprises. These days, he's focused on streamlining Liberty and dressing it up for sale, possibly in the next two years. Malone has neither the infrastructure nor the management team to tackle Disney's vast empire.
Malone has elevated his profile in the media world recently by taking larger stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and European cable operators. But industry sources say those increased holdings are not evidence of heightened interest in the entertainment world. Instead, they say, Malone probably bought News Corp. shares to package with some of his own properties as part of an exit strategy. Malone may be betting that Murdoch will be forced to buy pieces of Liberty if the Australian mogul wants to get back his own stock.
The wild card: Malone's deal-making partner, former studio boss Barry Diller, may employ his persuasive powers to draw Malone into a deal.
* Microsoft
Bill Gates probably won't rain on Comcast Chief Executive Brian L. Roberts' parade. That's because software giant Microsoft Corp. already owns about 7% of Comcast. Roberts, in fact, may turn to Microsoft if he wants to sweeten the Disney deal by offering a cash component.
