Apple could buy Disney after pullback

[adam.adbe]

Iger said in his book that if Steve had lived longer he believed the two companies would’ve merged.

Yeah, but since Jobs wasn't around to give his opinion, that statement is nothing more that hearsay. Iger's agenda there is unknown, and Jobs' opinion is unknowable.

 

[adam.adbe]

Great... disney+/MDE becomes limited to apple devices.


Or worse, disney+ scrapped and content moved to appletv only.

Apple buying disney is probably not something we should be wishing for!

derp.

 

[rteetz]

Yeah, but since Jobs wasn't around to give his opinion, that statement is nothing more that hearsay. Iger's agenda there is unknown, and Jobs' opinion is unknowable.

Well yeah... Just was pointing out that was something Iger noted.

 

[adam.adbe]

Well yeah... Just was pointing out that was something Iger noted.

The two obviously had a fruitful working relationship, and I could definitely see Apple working with Disney in the same way that it often does with music labels; but Disney needs Apple's exposure and money much less than, say, the hollowed out remains of BMG. Sooner or later Apple ends up in competition with the companies it once courted as friends though[1], and Apple does not generally do big buyouts. They buy tech, they occasionally buy people, and once or twice they bought a brand. They don't buy companies.

Jobs, more-so than Cook, saw a value in having a friendly media and entertainment industry to help Apple get out its narrative. Iger needed Pixar, and Jobs was happy to add another friend to his list of 'people who like Apple'.

[1] There's a long and unhappy list, and not all of them are Apple's fault or were as a result of Steve's ego.

 

[RanDIZ]

Disney’s market cap didn’t drop far enough to warrant any panic IMO. And Apple would def be at top of list of suitors. They are slowly becoming a media giant with more cash than anyone. They could easy spin off the parks if they didn’t want to deal with it or even Universal or Six Flags could step in. But the parks are a cash cow that I don’t think Apple would want to give up anyway. Just like Liberty Media bailed out SiriusXm who had 20 million paying customers at the time, someone would do the same with Disney before they go under. A company with over 40 million guests a yr will be just fine. This isn’t the end of the world.......yet.

 

[WDW_Ding]

As of the moment I type this, Disney has a market cap of about 172 billion dollars.

(Market cap refers to the total value of all a company's shares of stock.)

That isn't quite what the company is worth, because when one company is brought out, it is usually done at some multiple of its stock price. So, something like 1.5 or 2 or 3 times market cap, because the party buying the company will realize profits in the near future to offset the higher price. I hope that made sense...

Anyhow, Disney's market cap is about 172 billion dollars.

Apple has 207 billion dollars...in CASH.

So, it isn't crazy that Apple could buy Disney and would have no trouble at all coming up with the capital to do so.

Liquidity will return soon (the fed injected $1.5 trillion)

The Fed did make 1.5 trillion available to the repo market. It is unclear what the affect will be, but the hope it that it will encourage banks to continue to make loans.

Great... disney+/MDE becomes limited to apple devices.

That's the old Apple. Today, Apple Music can be used on Android phones, on Amazon Echo devices, and on Sonos devices. Apple TV can be viewed on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and many other TV manufacturers. Apple's Airplay technology can be found on LG, Samsung, and Vizio TVs and on Sonos speakers. AirPods can be used on any Bluetooth device.

Apple has really opened up in the past few years and I don't see it slowing down.

 

[dclpluto]

John Campea is going to talk about this on his show today at 12 pm eastern time.

 

[adam.adbe]

Apple has 207 billion dollars...in CASH.

A lot of that money is locked up overseas. I'm not sure what Apple's real-on-hand cash pile is, and obviously right now they could borrow (heavily) at pretty negligible rates, but that 207 number is misleading.

 

[adam.adbe]

They are slowly becoming a media giant with more cash than anyone.

As I said above: count the number of record labels Apple has purchased. In their heart and soul Apple are a hardware company. They own the OS because they see that as essential to the hardware. They have a serious inability to remain focused on actual application software though. They build content when someone else isn't doing it. Once other companies step up, Apple tends to take a back seat or just plain lose interest (Aperture users know how this feels). There is no reason to believe they'll do any different with media. They never bought a record label because they never needed to. They haven't bought a game company, and they're clearly in no hurry to do so, despite that being something they maybe need to do. They're creating TV shows because they currently absolutely need to.

In five years I think this will all change, but Apple move cautiously, and right now I truly don't believe the see a need to drop the kind of money necessary to buy a movie company. More likely they continue to try cut exclusive deals with proven production companies.

 

[RanDIZ]

Apple market cap is 1.07Trillion with a “T” not 172b. And they’ve been bringing cash back to US as part of a 5yr $350b plan. So they are in a great position to acquire something that’s been beaten down on value.

 

[middlechild]

The direction of many companies today is to own the subscriber. Each company wants to be the first place you log into, preferably as soon as you awaken. And stay logged in all day, through a variety of devices. Owning the subscriber means you own the subscriber data that can be sold or traded. The real value is in owning content because that attracts the subscriber as a dedicated consumer. Disney+ is a big entry into that field of owning the subscriber via content. Apple has owned the consumer for more than two decades, but that consumer pool has been difficult to grow. Apple buying Disney doesn't make sense from a traditional viewpoint, as the ecosystems are so different. Yet from a content perspective, to get Pixar, etc, into the Apple ecosystem might prove too tempting for a visionary leader. Is Tim Cook that visionary leader? Probably not, even if the subscriber pool would immediately grow exponentially.

 

[rojen]

I think the largest individual shareholder of both companies is the same person, Steve Jobs' widow. Or one of the largest. It's a deal that makes sense every way you cut it and has for years.

 

[rteetz]

I think the largest individual shareholder of both companies is the same person, Steve Jobs' widow. Or one of the largest. It's a deal that makes sense every way you cut it and has for years.

Laurene Powell Jobs sold off some of her stock and is still a significant shareholder in Disney but not the top now. A mutual fund is currently the largest, I believe the Murdoch's are then number two. Lucas and Perlmutter (Marvel) are significant shareholders as well.

 

[sethschroeder]

Do you think Google would just let this fall to Apple? If anyone is buying Disney I would bet on them before Apple simply because Google already does basically a little of everything and acquires so many companies and projects.

 

[Mattimation]

Do you think Google would just let this fall to Apple? If anyone is buying Disney I would bet on them before Apple simply because Google already does basically a little of everything and acquires so many companies and projects.

it miiiiiight make sense since Google's attempt to get into streaming media (YouTube Red) seems to be fairly unpopular. Apple TV+'s original programming has certainly garnered more attention, from both critics and audiences. Adding Disney+ to their lineup would certainly make them a stronger contender in that playing field, but otherwise I don't really see it. Apple and Disney have had much more synergy over the years, especially considering the Steve Jobs/Pixar connection

 

[sethschroeder]

it miiiiiight make sense since Google's attempt to get into streaming media (YouTube Red) seems to be fairly unpopular. Apple TV+'s original programming has certainly garnered more attention, from both critics and audiences. Adding Disney+ to their lineup would certainly make them a stronger contender in that playing field, but otherwise I don't really see it. Apple and Disney have had much more synergy over the years, especially considering the Steve Jobs/Pixar connection

I just want to add that Google gets a ton out of YouTube in general though. All that YouTube Premium (red no longer exists) really does at this point is remove ads for the most part. YouTube has switched to a direct contribution model for content creators, you may notice "Join" on various creators profiles at this point.

There is also integration between Patreon and YouTube as well if I am not mistaken (I think DIS even uses it).

AppleTV in reality is nothing more than basically what would be a single channel on a YouTube platform that sees in a single day over 5 billion videos consumed, 7200 hrs of video uploaded, and 30+m unique visitors (80% of which are outside the US). I personally think its laughable how much press Apple TV gets with what amounts to basically another version of HBO. I mean its the same boat for Amazon as well who has this original content which some of it is pretty good but is very limited as its basically a "channel".

I am not sure either one would be good for Disney but I have to think Google is a better choice because they are more than okay with big projects losing money if long term it means more users and data. Apple is about squeezing every dime out of a consumer for the least amount of innovation that is needed. (To clarify I also have a Macbook Air, AppleTV, iPad, and used to have iPhones)

 

[TomicalJM]

I don’t love the idea of Disney being bought out by anyone...but they do have history with Apple, and maybe that would reinvigorate the original visions for Epcot/Tomorrowland.

 

[OKW Lover]

I think the largest individual shareholder of both companies is the same person, Steve Jobs' widow. Or one of the largest. It's a deal that makes sense every way you cut it and has for years.

https://www.quora.com/Who-is-the-largest-shareholder-of-Disneyhttps://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/holders/

 

[LizzyS]

I am very much not a fan of Apple products, so I'd prefer that doesn't happen.

 

[old lady]

Is that possible?