Malcolm Owen
The prospect of Apple acquiring Disney seems not just unlikely, but incredibly improbable, after the returning CEO told employees the rumors are "pure speculation."
In the wake of rumors flaring up of a deal that Apple could buy the entertainment behemoth following his return as CEO of Disney, Bob Iger has taken a moment to cool down suggestions Disney is for sale. Speaking to cast members during a town hall meeting on Monday, Iger dismissed the suggestion entirely.
Bob Iger during today's cast member meeting stated the Apple buying Disney rumor is just a rumor. $DIS pic.twitter.com/K8g8JUzpLU
— Boardwalk Times (@BoardwalkTimes) November 28, 2022
During the meeting about the future of Disney itself, Iger was asked about the rumors of a possible Apple purchase. In response, Iger characterized the claims as "pure speculation," indicating it's not something the company is considering at all.
Rumors that Apple will buy Disney have circulated for over two decades, but were renewed with the installation of Iger as CEO three years after leaving the role. During the hiatus, Iger publicly said there was a point where a merger could possibly have taken place between the two companies — if there had been discussions.
Iger had previously uttered the same sentiment while friend Steve Jobs was alive, but neither had actually formally spoken about such a deal.
During the Cook administration of Apple, the rumors continued, in part due to Apple's growth and massive cash reserves being enough to enable such a purchase to take place.
However, such a prospect won't occur unless both Apple and Disney offer any indication to each other that such a tie-up would be appropriate. With Iger's comments, that seems extremely unlikely to happen anytime soon.
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10 Comments
Seems like many people have all sorts of ideas of how to Spend Apple’s money. None of them however, have a clue what’s going on behind the scenes.
Sometimes what ISN'T said is most interesting. In this case, Iger didn't say there was "no truth" to the rumors. He didn't say that "Disney isn't for sale." All he said (at least according to this report) is that the rumors are "pure speculation" -- which of course, they would have to be, since both Apple and Disney would have to be very tight lipped if there were any discussions at all. But just because it's speculation doesn't mean it's not true.
That said, I'm not sure that an Apple purchase of Disney makes sense--it would turn Apple into a very different type of company, with a massive investment in entertainment. And that's an area, thus far, in which Apple has chosen to mainly dabble with Apple Arcade and Apple+ streaming. (Which isn't to say Apple+ hasn't produced some incredible shows and movies, not to mention being the first streamer to win a Best Picture Oscar--but they're more of a boutique streamer without the glut of content on Netflix and other platforms.)
To me it sounds like a "non-denial denial." I guess I still remember All the President's Men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CWpgTDy_OE
Public pronouncements are totally not Apple: so whatever is or is not happening behind the scenes isn’t going to make the rounds of headlines.
The United States government has antitrust insanity to such an extent that federal regulators probably would never allow such a merger.
With that said, I did ditch Netflix for Disney+ at the request of my teenage children and thus far it has been a prudent choice. I did watch a few episodes of For All Mankind when they were free to watch, and while that was interesting, there's still not enough content (legacy content) on AppleTV+ to secure my subscription to the service.