I’m sure if you check with the Mothership....I would have deleted your wild guess that I make wild guesses but I do not have admin privileges.
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Rumor Is Apple about to make the happiest acquisition on earth?
- Thread starter tomast
- Start date
Same reliable source that told you Pandora was a direct reaction to Legoland opening? Good of you to still believe in them, I suppose....I only would consider mentioning it because it is from a reliable source here. Yes, I'm out on the limb but that is as usual. You are welcome to remind me if I get it wrong.
tirian
Well-Known Member
Considering most of Iger’s book is a heavily processed piece of fluff intended to set him up for political success, and considering he shamelessly name-dropped Steve Jobs in his book PR, I doubt there was ever anything more than a possibility of a partnership. For years, rumors circulated that Apple would sponsor the Imagination pavilion or open an area in Innoventions, neither of which happened.The latest rumors about Apple buying Walt Disney Co. aren’t new – they go back to Disney’s 2006 acquisition of Pixar. That made late Pixar Co-founder Steve Jobs into Disney’s largest shareholder and a member of its board. Of course, Jobs was also co-founder of a little computer startup you might have heard of called Apple, and at the time was in his second tour of duty as its CEO.
After Disney bought Pixar, the logic held that it was only a matter of time before Apple returned the favor and bought Disney. Those rumors have circulated on and off for nearly 15 years, and they got a new injection of life last fall. That’s when former Disney CEO Bob Iger noted in his autobiography that had Jobs not died in 2011, a Disney/Apple combination might have happened after all.
“I believe that if Steve were still alive, we would have combined our companies, or at least discussed the possibility very seriously,” Iger wrote.
That’s one of the points Rosenblatt analyst Bernie McTernan brought up when discussing the idea of Apple buying Disney today with Yahoo Finance (via MacDailyNews). But the other major aspect McTernan cited was the drop in Disney stock’s price, which has lost over 30% of its value as it has shut down its parks.
In a potential acquisition, that would give Apple a deep discount. At the time of writing, Disney has a market cap of $167B, a bit less than the cash Apple has on hand.
McTernan noted how purchasing Disney could give Apple instant success with its media and original content plans and Disney would gain over a billion active devices where its content would be tightly integrated.
Notably, coronavirus has shut down Apple’s work on original content and the effects could last into the later part of the year or even next year. Further, McTernan doesn’t think Apple TV+ on its own will see the success Apple is looking for.
You can see the full video interview here.
Steve Jobs was also known for ignoring focus groups or refusing to have them at all, whereas Iger couldn’t live without his bean counters and marketing checklists culled from heavily skewed “research.”
The two men had vastly different business philosophies. Chapek’s promotion is evidence enough for that.
IMHO
If Jobs were still alive, I’d love for Apple to buy Disney. The Mouse might’ve become an innovator again and promoted quality over cuts and price gouging. But I don’t think the current Apple company is as open-minded, innovative, or trailblazing as they were before Jobs’ death.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
From what I have read about Jobs, while there were select people who challenged his authority that he would respect, he generally did not like being challenged. This is why he and the also very proud and stubborn Michael Eisner eventually came to hate each other. Jobs seemed to like Iger because Iger did what Jobs wanted, he was not someone who would challenge him.
There was also the on and off Apple Store and Disney Springs which would have first been discussed at the very end of Jobs’ life.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Apple has services available on non-Apple devices and operating systems. Apple Music is available for Android. There’s even a webOS app for AppleTV+.
I honestly can’t see Apple owning theme parks
This is always the big ? whenever this rumor pops up. Do Apple really want all the baggage that comes with a complete Disney acquisition? Like theme parks and cruises and what not. Id imagine they mostly want the movie and tv studios. But if Disney ever did sell out id imagine like the Murdoch's and Fox it would be an all or nothing deal. E.G Apple would have to buy the entire company not just the parts it wants.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Like InBev and SeaWorld, you can buy the whole thing and then jettison the parts you don’t want.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
It should also be reminded that up until recently most Disney theme park complexes were not majority owned by TWDC.
Only the American ones.
There's a precedent for minority ownership.
Even the Disneyland Hotel in California was not owned by Disney until some 30 years after opening.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Let's also not forget that Steve Job's close personal friend thought minority, or no, ownership in all Disney parks would be best for Disney.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
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DisneyJayL
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I like Apple a whole lot, but please keep Tim Cook’s hands away from this. It would be bad news with the quickness.
biggy H
Well-Known Member
Apple won't have spare piles of cash when all the countries around the world hit them with massive tax bills, to pay for all their Covid-19 bail outs, on all the money they made in the past in those countries and paid no or next to no tax. Google, Facebook and Amazon will probably get hit as well.
solidyne
Well-Known Member
Yes, they are.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Does anyone know what the argument would be in favour of Disney selling off all or most of the parks and resorts division?
Up until the past few weeks, it seems to have been one of the if not the most reliably profitable divisions of the company. Not to mention how important the parks are to the Disney brand. Surely owning a business like parks and resorts where people reliably show up and throw money at them with wild abandon is part of what has set Disney apart from other entertainment companies?
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Disney can still make money off the parks without having to be at risk and responsible for the majority, or even all, of their increasing costs to operate and expand.
alphac2005
Well-Known Member
I signed an NDA, so there’s only so much to divulge, but what I can say is that I’ve had something to do with Apple TV+ and the company is just throwing ridiculous sums of cash at it and literally flushing it down the drain. I do not see a long term play of Apple in the entertainment business even with the content being king mantra of today. The entire industry is unsustainable with an unprecedented cash burn rate, so we’ll see.
DisneyJayL
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I got the service and canceled it almost immediately. To me, it’s terrible. One of the few missteps Apple has made, but this one was a big one.