Apple is the most valuable technology company on the planet and now, there is a possibility it will own the most valuable entertainment company, too. Move over Microsoft and Activision; this deal, if it were to happen, would be one of the biggest deals in the world.
While Apple’s potential acquisition of Disney is old news, the deal has never looked more possible than it does right now. According to analysts that spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, there is a case for Apple to buy Disney and Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, might already be preparing for such a possibility.
A few months ago, a Hollywood executive told The Hollywood Reporter that such a deal was in the offing. However, there were – and still are – many barriers to such a merger, especially the fact that it would make Apple very big and the US government would frown at such sudden expansion.
According to one analyst, such a deal would only be possible if Iger were to divest some of Disney’s assets and trim down its size. It was like Iger was listening in because a few weeks later, he told CNBC that Disney’s linear television business is not important to the company.
If you were reading between the lines, you would understand that it means the company wouldn’t say no if a big enough offer comes for its television networks. If that were to happen, it would make Disney a smaller company. Because of this, the feds might become more amenable to the idea of a sale to Apple.
Iger’s relationship with Apple goes back a long way. For one, Steve Jobs, Apple’s iconic leader, financed and created Pixar, an animation studio that he eventually sold to Disney in 2006. That studio has gone on to develop many successful animated films for Disney thereby driving lots of money to its coffers.
Beyond this, Iger and Jobs were friends until the latter’s death in 2011. Jobs joined Disney’s board of directors in the same year that he sold Pixar to it until he died. On the other hand, Iger joined Apple’s board of directors around the time of Jobs’s death until late 2019.
According to Iger, Apple might have already bought Disney in a different world. In 2019, the Disney CEO wrote in his memoir titled The Ride of a Lifetime, “I believe that if Steve were still alive, we would have combined our companies, or at least discussed the possibility very seriously.”
The company is by far and away the most valuable entertainment company on the planet. So why would it want to sell to Apple? The answer lies in the fact that the entertainment industry is changing and becoming increasingly technologically inclined.
With the way things are going, there could very well be a future where traditional entertainment companies like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal Pictures are relegated to the background with modern brands like Prime Video and Netflix coming to the fore.
If that were the case, Disney can ensure it remains relevant by selling to Apple and getting the backing of the biggest tech company in the world. For Apple, acquiring Disney would mean a vast catalog of valuable IPs that would immediately catapult its nascent entertainment business to the forefront of the entertainment industry.
Therein lies the justification for this marriage, if it ever happens. But what would the entertainment look like in the aftermath? Only time will tell.
