Karen Egan, an analyst at Enders Analysis, said that the ECJ ruling next year is “going to be absolutely critical for European mergers”, adding that regulators’ view on the Orange-MasMovil deal is “more uncertain than the companies are portraying to the market."

She added “Whether you’ve got three players desperately trying to fill their networks, or four, isn’t that different in terms of competitive intensity."

Gill said "BBC Studios is certainly a very powerful engine that brings money back to the parent company, but it is not a cash cow. Even if its growth has been constant, in production, the profit margins are quite low."

Francois said “Private equity funds, like KKR, seem to have discovered in recent years the value of intellectual property and the relatively predictable income it generates."

The quality of its editorial policy has a lot to do with it. “They have a great flair for investing in blockbuster films. The Mission impossible, for example, will still make money in fifteen years”, notes François Godard. The tremendous success of "Top Gun: Maverick", which at the end of August had accumulated more than 1.4 billion dollars in worldwide box office receipts, provides a recent illustration of this.

Douglas said “Young people worry about a consensus in the news hierarchy and the combative tone of news media. The News Movement cuts through these issues. As a result of the rapid rise in subscriptions, news and media have become investible again. It is great to see a cycle of innovation gathering pace.”

Douglas said “A return to profits is a performance most media would take. The core business, effectively matching 2019 levels, has shifted to more sustainable online subscriptions with some healthy diversification growth on top."

“The FT is also better protected against economic headwinds than consumer media.”

Alice said "Better to sell before the death of one of them, an inheritance would quickly become complex."

She added "They are like these trees which never lose their leaves, because each generation loves them."

But the context is less favorable than for the sales of the Dylan and Springsteen catalogs. “The rates were very low, for the buyer, borrowing at 5 or 6% rather than 2 or 3%, that changes the situation,” says Alice Enders. To the point of considering a price drop? "It's possible" , supports the expert, for whom Pink Floyd have waited too long. In their song "Money", they sang about money: "Share it fairly, but don't take a slice of my pie" . The whole point is there.

Enders Analysis estimates that the combined Vodafone-Three entity would instantly become an £8bn revenue company, a little larger than EE at £7bn and O2 at £6bn, and far better placed to take them on. 

Enders calculates that EE earns a return of 24pc on capital expenditure, while the two stragglers, Vodafone and Three, muster 8pc and 5pc respectively.

“The market seems to be heading towards greater polarisation between the haves and have-nots from a scale perspective, such that the smaller players may no longer be credible competitive forces,” Enders Analysis warned in a research note last week. 

Karen Egan of Enders points out that aggregate investment doesn’t even need to go up. Even if it stays the same, with three rather than four, it will be far more effectively deployed, something we’ll tangibly see in more reliable calls and stronger coverage.

Joseph said Meta must persuade software developers that it is “worth their while” to build for its platform. “If Meta can offer creators the tools they need to build great content, and an audience to serve it to, then they’ll have cleared the first hurdle in the long race to rule the metaverse.”