Should AT&T buy Akamai

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Seeking Alpha reported that the rumors of a possible acquisition by AT&T were driving up Akamai’s stock price. In such a situation, the rumor could have very well been started by a bored teenager in Australia. Regardless, let’s assess the possibility of the acquisition.

Acquiring Akamai is going to be expensive, even for AT&T. If this happens, it will wreak havoc on the CDN industry. On the bright side, however, smaller CDNs like Fastly, Yotta, Highwinds, Cachefly and MaxCDN, will have a field day in a land grab for Akamai’s customer base.

But would it be a wise decision for AT&T? My thought process indicates “no.” A better acquisition is Limelight. Not only is it 45 times cheaper based on current stock price, but Limelight is also in the upper echelons of the CDN ecosystem. It has a global network, a diverse service portfolio, and 500 hard working employees that know CDN business inside out.

My prediction is that AT&T will acquire Limelight.

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