Disney has surprised us numerous times in the past with bold business moves. This includes purchasing the likes of Marvel, Lucasfilm, and even 20th Century Fox. Of course, CEO Bob Iger was responsible for all of those incredible deals. Now, after reclaiming his spot as Disney CEO after replacing his replacement Bob Chapek, it looks like Bob Iger could be making his next incredible deal. As revealed by one studio insider, they predict that Bob Iger will finish his next two years with the company by selling Disney. As for who he would sell Disney to? It would be none other than Apple.
This news comes via The Wrap, where the insider claims, “He’s going to sell the company.” He believes that this would be “the pinnacle deal for the ultimate dealmaker.” Indeed, given Bob Iger’s previous history with Disney, it would certainly be the appropriate note to leave the company on. Additionally, this was emphasized by “a former top Disney executive” that believes a deal with Apple or another “megabuyer” would be considered a great part of Iger’s legacy.
“I think he’d welcome it — he’d be the last CEO of Disney,” the former executive stated. He also added that both Disney and Apple have “similar brand identities” which would make the two companies a fitting match in a merger. And it’s something that Bob Iger has already alluded to in the past. He revealed as much in his 2019 autobiography “The Ride of a Lifetime.”
As explained by The Wrap, he “wrote chapters about his friendship with Steve Jobs. He and his wife, Willow Bay, were close friends with Steve and Laurene Powell Jobs, even spending holidays together and vacationing in Hawaii. He even writes about standing in front of Steve Jobs’ grave when the tech visionary’s wife uttered: “I asked him if we could trust you. And Steve said, ‘I love that guy.'” As Iger put it, “The feeling was mutual.”
Likewise, Apple CEO Tim Cook has also teased that he wouldn’t rule out acquiring a large company at Apple. As he explained while speaking with investors:
“We are always looking at companies to buy, we acquire a lot of smaller companies and we’ll continue to do that for IP and to incorporate talent,” Cook said. “We don’t discount something larger if the opportunity presents itself. I’m not going to go through my list with you on this call, but we’re always looking.”
Of course, it remains to be seen if such a deal would ever go through. In fact, many regulators have started to block these types of deals as more megadeals attempt to go through. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, we’ve seen Disney pull off some major deals in the past. So, at this rate, perhaps anything is possible – even having Bob Iger sell Disney to Apple. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates as we have them.