These past couple of years is certainly an eventful time of Hollywood showbiz shake-ups. For one, former Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to the company last year to replace his unsuccessful successor, Bob Chapek. Since then, Iger has sought to pull back on what he deemed to be oversaturation in the Marvel and Star Wars franchises as well as seeking to capitalize on the use of AI, which is one of the issues that led to the union strike from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. The Hollywood Reporter now reveals that a veteran Hollywood executive has hinted at a possibility of a significant acquisition — that Apple may buy Disney.
In recent years, Disney was seen as an ever-growing powerhouse when they had purchased 20th Century Fox after having bought Lucasfilm years before. It looked like the company would be overseeing many entertainment properties to great success with the numerous titles being nestled safely under one umbrella. THR points out that Apple doesn’t necessarily want to make the purchase, and many executives even scoff at the notion. However, the Hollywood vet expounds, “I don’t think [Apple] would buy the company as it presently exists. But if you see Bob start to divest things … that feels like he’s prepping for a sale. And there’s clearly no buyer like Apple.”
A few weeks after this proposed idea was conveyed, Iger would go on to appear on CNBC for an interview where, according to THR, he stated that “Disney’s linear TV networks, like ABC and FX, ‘may not be core’ to the company’s business.” As Qui-Gon Jinn said in The Phantom Menace, there’s always a bigger fish. When Lucasfilm and Fox were looking for buyers, there wasn’t a company that could step up to the task like Disney. Now, it would seem Apple is the bigger fish as no company can quite compare with $62 billion in cash and cash equivalents, plus a $2.8 trillion market cap.
There has been an expectation among studio executives that the plane of companies will continue to shrink due to acquisitions. An industry vet predicts, “There will end up being three or four platforms and everybody else gets hollowed out and acquired. There will be Apple, Amazon, Netflix and one other. If you could put NBCUniversal, Warners and Paramount together, you probably have enough to survive.” Although, it has been noted that major purchases would not likely be allowed by the feds due to monopoly. However, multiple sources insist that Iger has been immensely stressed with his given situation, and additionally, many of the collaborators in his heyday are no longer present at the company to help see him through these current times.