Media companies came back into vogue in the US this week after America Online announced a blockbuster deal to acquire Time Warner in the largest corporate merger ever. In its wake, investors snapped up shares in Walt Disney, News Corp, Viacom and CBS Corp. The key issue, analysts said, was that investors believed any number of media companies were now in play.

This week Wall Street was buzzing with speculation as to which media companies would be the next to merge. The AOLTime Warner deal is expected to spark interest among investors in cable companies, which they may view as possible takeover targets. Mr Arnold Kaufman, editor of The Outlook, Standard & Poor's investment advisory newsletter predicts that any kind of Internet provider that is not in cable will look to find a partner with such companies.