Carl Icahn eyes Apple hook-up

Wall St💞reet is a-flurry with speculation﷽ that billionaire investor Carl Icahn may be looking to act as a matchmaker between Apple and Nuance Communications.

The chatter first kicked in several weeks ago when Icahn — who at the time had a 16.4 percent stake in Nuance, the maker of the popular Siri speech recognition t🌠echnology — also revealed a “large position” in Apple.

Tamping expectations, however, w💜as Icahn’s curiously 🌳passive position in Nuance in the form of a generic 13G regulatory filing.

That changed late Thursday when Icahn switched to a 13D filing, which warns companies of activist intentions. He announced an elevat🌟ed 16.9 percent stake and said he thinks the shares are undervalued.

The change to a 13D🧸 reiꩲgnited chatter that a deal between Nuance and Apple could be in the pipeline.

“It would be a small acquisition for Apple,” said hedge-fund cꦦonsultant Charles Gradante, who thinks A⛎pple could buy Nuance for $7 billion — mere pocket change for the gadget maker.

“Nuance is a 🍎leader in voice. Voice is the futurꦯe. Apple needs to expand its future,” Gradante added.

Not everyone agrees that Apple and Nuance would make a good f𓃲it, however.

Some 45 percent of Nuance’s revenue comes from 🌱its work in the healthcare sector, which would be of little to no use to Apple, said Avondale Partners analyst John Bright.

Bright agrees that putting Nuance on the auction block could bring in a pretty penny for Nuance shareholders, but think♋s companies like IBM, Microsoft and🥀 even Google would make for better suitors.

Of course, Icahn m𝐆ay ha🐭ve no intention of putting the company up for sale at all. In Thursday’s filing he merely said he may consider nominating people to the board of directors.