A Disney Sale to Apple? Don’t Count It Out This Time

[crimsonaudio]

There clearly is no buyer like Apple, which is sitting on $62 billion in cash and cash equivalents and has a $2.8 trillion market cap. And while it may be very true that Apple doesn’t want to buy a studio, maybe it would want to buy this studio —the one that, despite the challenges of the moment, has a vault full of priceless IP and remains the most valuable brand in entertainment.

And there has been a long-standing “special relationship” between Disney and Apple: Steve Jobs served on Disney’s board of directors from 2006 until his death in 2011. Iger joined Apple’s board shortly after Jobs died. He resigned from that position Sept. 10, 2019, the same day Apple officially announced that it was getting into the content business through its Apple TV+ service.

A Disney Sale to Apple? Don’t Count It Out This Time

Facing the staggering problems afflicting all legacy studios, is Bob Iger contemplating a once-unthinkable option? The signals he sent in Sun Valley suggest that it could happen.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Might as well happen, I hate them both.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

I saw this somewhere else too. I hate the world that this is even a discussion.

 

[2003TIDE]

Not sure if I care TBH. I like Apple. I'm impartial on Disney. Although Disney would be better if the spun off ESPN, I dislike ESPN and think they are a TV monopoly that is bad for sports. Also have mixed feelings about Disney being in the digital distribution business. They are actively pushing prices higher as a strategy to push people back to cheaper tiers with ads so they can get ad revenue. As a studio and theme park company, I have zero problems with Disney.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

Not sure if I care TBH. I like Apple. I'm impartial on Disney. Although Disney would be better if the spun off ESPN, I dislike ESPN and think they are a TV monopoly that is bad for sports. Also have mixed feelings about Disney being in the digital distribution business. They are actively pushing prices higher as a strategy to push people back to cheaper tiers with ads so they can get ad revenue. As a studio and theme park company, I have zero problems with Disney.

I think that is part of the discussion. They would get rid of the part of their business that isn't "core" such as the TV portion like ABC and ESPN. Then they would sell the core business to Apple.

I hate the idea of these massive tech companies also buying massive movie studios. Amazon already bought MGM and now Apple could theoretically buy Disney? No thanks.

 

[mdb-tpet]

These mega corporation boards already share and recycle too many of the same members. Bob Iger was on the Apple Board until 2019, so there's little going on at both companies he probably doesn't have some knowledge about. Not surprised either way. I'm not a fan of companies that control as many resources as these companies do, with the exception that it does take a massive company to pull off a successful phone/device that can work wirelessly nearly anywhere on the planet you want to be. I do wish our anti-trust laws were more readily dusted off and applied to our corporate overlords.