Calling on Warren

Sprint in deal talks

that Sprint’s chairman, Masayoshi Son, met with John Malone and Warren Buffett during Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley retreat spread like wildfire on Friday — only to be doused almost as quickly for defying reason.

Skeptics noted that Sprint is already in exclusive discussions with leading cable companies Comcast and Charter.

But the original two-month exclusivity period is now in its final weeks.

Sprint’s reaching out to new partners this late in the game suggests a deal with the cable companies isn’t anywhere near completion.

“Clearly they are having a tough time, so Sprint is trying to bring Malone and Buffett into the fold so a deal can be reached — likely with all four of these players,” said FBN analyst Robert Routh.

Elsewhere, speculation continued to stalk Verizon’s dealmaking plans.

Verizon Chief Executive

Lowell McAdam has been highly visible in Sun Valley, yet his biggest statement was to deny a tie-up with Disney.

Still, a top media-company executive at the conference told The Post, “I’m still not ruling out Disney. [McAdam’s] got to do something — either buy one of us or take over a cable company,” citing pressure from the AT&T-Time Warner deal.

Many close to the situation consider Liberty Media-controlled Charter, the country’s second-largest cabler behind Comcast, the best fit for Verizon.

What’s more, by joint-venturing with Comcast in wireless and together entering into exclusive discussions with Sprint, Charter appears to some as trying to provoke Verizon into action.

But on Friday, when Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei was asked if he’d enticed McAdam to the negotiating table, he was noncommittal.

“I had a nice burger with him,” Maffei said.