Disney is one of the largest media companies in the world, but nothing seems too big for Apple to take over. Yet it’s never going to happen, if CEO Bob Iger is to be believed. And that’s good news.
Apple is the most valuable company in the world. It makes huge profits every year and so it is not surprising that many companies are mentioned as takeover prey of the tech giant. For example, we recently saw rumors of Manchester United popping up. Disney is one of the other companies mentioned a lot. That rumor is now being quashed.
Will there be a takeover between Apple and Disney?
Bob Iger was Disney’s CEO for a long time, but retired early. Now he has been brought out of mothballs again to be interim executive until a successor to the last CEO, Bob Chapek, is found. In the first meeting with his employees, he already made big statements.
During that meeting, Iger responded to rumors that Apple and Disney would merge into one big company, reports Deadline. Something that with his background is not even a strange thought. However, he revealed that it is not going to happen.
In fact, Iger also has history at Apple. He was on the supervisory board at the company, but left it when it introduced Apple TV+. A logical choice, since it allowed the company to compete with Disney, where he was CEO at the time.
Highly unlikely
Yet it seems very unlikely, since Apple is not one of the huge acquisitions. Apple’s biggest acquisition was that of Beats Audio, Dr. Dre’s company. Apple paid $3 billion for that in 2014.
Disney, however, is even bigger. The Walt Disney Company alone has sales of $827 billion and profits of $3.1 billion.
Disney could be an enrichment for Apple. Especially as the company moves into the streaming landscape with Apple TV+. If it comes to a merger, Apple has a huge library of movies and series.
Highly undesirable
Still, such an acquisition or merger seems to make little sense for Disney. While Apple TV+ has great shows, it doesn’t really have big blockbusters that draw people to a streaming service. Something that Disney+ itself, of course, does have with Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar.
If Apple wants to make its own streaming service bigger, it would do better to acquire smaller studios or media companies. Thus, Apple was rumored to be competing for MGM Studios and Hello Sunshine.
The former film studio went to Amazon. Apple thought the $8.45 billion acquisition price was too high, according to sources. Hello Sunshine went to Candle Media of giant investment firm Blackstone for $900 million.
Plenty of other prey for Apple
With the streaming landscape splintering, plenty of other opportunities for acquisitions are coming. It seems a matter of time until the competition is too great and some services with bigger titles can’t keep up. Those are ideal prey for Apple to take over.
Apple is also making inroads in its own way. It brings in many quality films and series through first options with various production companies. It has won Emmys and even an Oscar with its own originals. So it is doing well, despite the fact that the service is probably still making a loss.
Then again, Disney has a different approach and creativity. You can love it or not, but the variety between the different services gives you something to choose from.
Disney and Apple together? Not a good idea
Still, it’s especially not a good idea for the two companies to merge, because you get a giant player. Something that is certainly not good for competition. The Walt Disney Company is the world’s largest media company after Comcast and, according to Forbes, worth more than, say, Netflix, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery combined.
And even if it seems to be happening, politics could still put a stop to it. The chances of that happening are pretty good. There is quite a magnifying glass on tech companies, and acquisitions are not allowed just like that, because of the possibility of monopoly positions.
So a merger seems unreal and unlikely and we should be happy about that. Both because of competitive interest and creativity.