Weeters 1811 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 There have been rumors and speculation the past few days that Apple is looking at buying up Disney. http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/apple-disney-acquisition-rumor-1202029827/ http://fortune.com/2017/04/13/apple-disney-mega-merger/ The Variety article suggests, if this went through, Apple could spin off Disney properties like ESPN but let's be real here. They're after the media content and not the "cruft" like theme parks, resorts, and cruise lines. I suspect those would be the first to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess 1110 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 There have been rumors and speculation the past few days that Apple is looking at buying up Disney. http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/apple-disney-acquisition-rumor-1202029827/ http://fortune.com/2017/04/13/apple-disney-mega-merger/ The Variety article suggests, if this went through, Apple could spin off Disney properties like ESPN but let's be real here. They're after the media content and not the "cruft" like theme parks, resorts, and cruise lines. I suspect those would be the first to go. Disagree on the parks and resorts being cruft... https://www.statista.com/statistics/193140/revenue-of-the-walt-disney-company-by-operating-segment/ Media Networks (ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel) is the highest performing segment, but Parks and Resorts isn't THAT far behind. And if you do the math, Parks and Resorts does more than the film division and consumer products combined. You'd be cutting off Disney's arms if you get rid of the theme parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 The parks barely have any competition either. Only Universal comes close and they don't have nearly the mystique and appeal of the Disney parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 The parks barely have any competition either. Only Universal comes close and they don't have nearly the mystique and appeal of the Disney parks. Universal is really trying though. They're pouring in a lot of money into their Orlando resort by building a brand new water park and hotels to accompany it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 846 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 There have been rumors and speculation the past few days that Apple is looking at buying up Disney. http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/apple-disney-acquisition-rumor-1202029827/ http://fortune.com/2017/04/13/apple-disney-mega-merger/ The Variety article suggests, if this went through, Apple could spin off Disney properties like ESPN but let's be real here. They're after the media content and not the "cruft" like theme parks, resorts, and cruise lines. I suspect those would be the first to go. ESPN is in a bit of a calm before the storm crisis these days as people continue cord cutting and its revenues drop... Everyone wants to go on a week at Disneyworld or on a cruise and nobody is buying their own yacht or building their own theme park as an alternative... ESPN is the cruft long term but the chance to push Apple everything at a theme park is not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Universal is really trying though. They're pouring in a lot of money into their Orlando resort by building a brand new water park and hotels to accompany it. I wasn't knocking Universal, I was just saying that Disney has a huge head start on them. They are still the only ones who can even touch Disney. ESPN is in a bit of a calm before the storm crisis these days as people continue cord cutting and its revenues drop... Everyone wants to go on a week at Disneyworld or on a cruise and nobody is buying their own yacht or building their own theme park as an alternative... ESPN is the cruft long term but the chance to push Apple everything at a theme park is not... The entire ESPN model is collapsing and never seemed very sustainable anyway. All it was was an excuse to bilk the public, advertisers, and MVPDs for more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Block 1488 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 The parks barely have any competition either. Only Universal comes close and they don't have nearly the mystique and appeal of the Disney parks. I went on a bad Tinder date with a Universal parks finance guy a few months ago. He said theme parks are one of the few pieces of entertainment that remained resilient through the recession and into today. Universal and Disney keep raising their admission price every year and it's had no impact on attendance for either company. They have a surprisingly loyal customer base to the point that Disney can charge $50,000 extra for a bride to arrive at her Disney wedding in Cinderella's cab. The date ended when I went on a rant about how strange I find Disneyana culture to be, and it turned out that he's one of those people who goes to Disneyland every weekend. The way I see it, I dodged a bullet there, but I digress with my oversharing... Apple and Disney seems like an odd pairing, but Apple has more cash on hand than God, and I'm sure all those execs salivate at the thought of all that vertical integration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 The date ended when I went on a rant about how strange I find Disneyana culture to be, and it turned out that he's one of those people who goes to Disneyland every weekend. The way I see it, I dodged a bullet there, but I digress with my oversharing... You definitely dodged a bullet. I don't care for Disney (maybe it's because I wasn't into that stuff) and it does seem very creepy. If I had to choose I'd go to Universal as I don't think there would be as many young people around. But I gotta wonder if he was such a Disney fan why work at Universal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgie56 3066 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Universal is more adult-oriented than Disney (Universal Hollywood is an actual movie studio!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 I went on a bad Tinder date with a Universal parks finance guy a few months ago. He said theme parks are one of the few pieces of entertainment that remained resilient through the recession and into today. Universal and Disney keep raising their admission price every year and it's had no impact on attendance for either company. They have a surprisingly loyal customer base to the point that Disney can charge $50,000 extra for a bride to arrive at her Disney wedding in Cinderella's cab. The date ended when I went on a rant about how strange I find Disneyana culture to be, and it turned out that he's one of those people who goes to Disneyland every weekend. The way I see it, I dodged a bullet there, but I digress with my oversharing... Apple and Disney seems like an odd pairing, but Apple has more cash on hand than God, and I'm sure all those execs salivate at the thought of all that vertical integration. Well I was hooked at ... "I went on a bad Tinder date with a Universal parks finance guy a few months ago." I wish I could give you 2 likes for that one, it was a good read! More Tinder stories please!. ...of course as it relates to the topics if interest of these fine television news forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 But I gotta wonder if he was such a Disney fan why work at Universal? Ha! I was wondering the same thing. I do like Disney and Universal too but I'm too cheap to go all hardcore about it like some people do. As far as the theme parks are concerned, as it's already been pointed out, they're big cash cows for both Universal and Disney. Part of that is due to the loyal fan base for both places. The entire ESPN model is collapsing and never seemed very sustainable anyway. All it was was an excuse to bilk the public, advertisers, and MVPDs for more money. Part of what is doing ESPN is the ridiculous amounts of money they have spent for various broadcast rights to different sporting events (namely college football). That's part of the reason why they've been slowly losing the broadcast rights to various sports (namely soccer) to other competitors. They no longer have a monopoly on sports on cable anymore as Turner, NBC, and Fox slowly pick away at what ESPN had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetroCity 247 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 People have been speculating about Disney selling ABC or selling itself for 20 years. Disney has no reason to do either. Its debt is relatively small and manageable. Every part of the company makes money. It owns all of ABC, including real estate, free and clear. ESPN doesn't make as much as it used to, but it is still makes a butt load. Disney has never been shy about spinning off or shutting down unprofitable or out of date ventures. The stock price keeps rising and investors are making money. Disney won't sell ABC because it gives them a platform for their product and endless free on air promotion. There is prestige in owning the networks and stations, and the execs like that. Each division of Disney is there for a reason. Each is part of the whole money making picture. There is a reason Disney doesn't own more stations or cable networks. They've thought about it and came close a few times. But they never found a deal that would return a higher than normal return on investment with low debt service, guaranteed long term growth and no drag on the current properties. If the company stands to make less money with more properties, it isn't a good deal. Disney and Apple are similar in that they are both progressive, tightly run organizations that have convinced customers their products are unique, desirable and worth the very high prices they charge. They have woven themselves into American culture to the point where the American dream now includes an iPhone and a Mickey Mouse salt shaker. That said, marriage between them would be a disaster. Neither company has compromise written into its mission statement. Neither would be content with being number two on a flow chart of owned properties. Neither has a corporate culture of sacrifice for the greater good or allowing someone else to be smarter. The companies are too different for any management to completely understand both sides. A merger would be a clash of titans and nobody would win. Disney understands this. Apple probably does too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad 113 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Not only would this be an odd merger, but I hope it doesn't happen. Disney should remain Disney and Apple should remain Apple. It doesn't make sense to merge a large tech company with the country's second-largest media company. However, another similarity between both companies is that both are based in California. I hope this merger, if executed, would get blocked, just like when Comcast tried to buy out Time Warner Cable and AT&T tried to buy out T-Mobile. (Oh, and I hope the merger between Sinclair and Tribune would fall through soon instead of finalize). Here's a question: I wonder what would happen if Verizon or Nintendo buys Disney? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weeters 1811 Posted May 13, 2017 Author Share Posted May 13, 2017 Here's a question: I wonder what would happen if Verizon or Nintendo buys Disney? Not even worth speculating about because it's not gonna happen... Apple is worth nearly $700 billion and is the largest publicly traded company in the world. They have $246 billion dollars in cash reserves. Disney's total assets equal $92 billion. Apple could buy Disney and pay in cash without financing the purchase at all. Both Verizon and Nintendo (??) have debts which suggests they don't have cash reserves, let alone cash reserves of $200 billion. That's where this rumor is coming from. Apple has a ton of cash and there is pressure for them to do something with it. What's the most expensive thing they can buy? Disney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoadStar 363 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Not even worth speculating about because it's not gonna happen... Apple is worth nearly $700 billion and is the largest publicly traded company in the world. They have $246 billion dollars in cash reserves. Of course, nearly all of Apple's cash reserves, more than $230bn, are trapped in overseas subsidiaries, and they can't bring it back without paying a huge tax penalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Block 1488 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 That's where this rumor is coming from. Apple has a ton of cash and there is pressure for them to do something with it. What's the most expensive thing they can buy? Disney. They could always buy Greece: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-05-11/apple-could-make-money-by-bailing-out-greece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oklahomanewsman 210 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 I wonder if Apple has any interest in owning ABC and ESPN or is Apple willing to sell/spin off ABC and ESPN into 2 seperate companies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4174 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Not even worth speculating about because it's not gonna happen... Apple is worth nearly $700 billion and is the largest publicly traded company in the world. They have $246 billion dollars in cash reserves. Disney's total assets equal $92 billion. Apple could buy Disney and pay in cash without financing the purchase at all. Both Verizon and Nintendo (??) have debts which suggests they don't have cash reserves, let alone cash reserves of $200 billion. That's where this rumor is coming from. Apple has a ton of cash and there is pressure for them to do something with it. What's the most expensive thing they can buy? Disney. Think of all the good Apple could do for the world if it bought Sinclair... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Oh boy, I can't wait for Apple 7 Eyewitness News. Although it would be nice to work for an Apple owned Disney. Imagine the employee discounts you could get for an iPhone/iPad, etc??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skbl17 188 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Oh boy, I can't wait for Apple 7 Eyewitness News. Although it would be nice to work for an Apple owned Disney. Imagine the employee discounts you could get for an iPhone/iPad, etc??? Don't you mean iWitness News? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Don't you mean iWitness News? Touche`. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4174 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Oh boy, I can't wait for Apple 7 Eyewitness News. Although it would be nice to work for an Apple owned Disney. Imagine the employee discounts you could get for an iPhone/iPad, etc??? I want a Circle 7 Apple Watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 I want a Circle 7 Apple Watch. Drool. Now I want one too, LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainNews 285 Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Live from Apple Park, this is Apple 7 iWitness News? The new Apple Headquarters is Circle? Purely coincidence that its like Circle 7 Eyewitness News Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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