Rise and Fall of a Moloch
While the general public still associates Disney primarily with the Mickey Mouse gang, princesses, the bulk of blockbuster animated films, and theme parks, it’s still widely accepted that the California-based company is one of those people you’d never leave the podium. Nevertheless, Some increasingly haunting rumors are of a gradual sale of Disney until the keys are handed over to the highest bidder.
While this isn’t really the first time such rumors have surfaced, this time they’re starting from a factual observation: Disney’s financial results fall far short of the goals set by CEO Bob Iger. If he recently took charge of the company, it should be remembered that he had been at the helm of the company for many years and during that time was instrumental in building the Mastodon as we know it today. For example, he was behind the historic acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century FoxAll of this has allowed Disney to establish itself as the ultimate predator of the entertainment food chain.
However, after leaving his post in favor of Bob Chapek in 2021, Disney had a string of poor results until Iger decided to take charge to get the company back on track. Unfortunately for him and his ambitions, the latest numbers haven’t really proved him right since then Disney Plus is expected to post a loss of $800 million at the end of the third quarter of 2023. A colossal sum that the Californian company was not really used to under these conditions…
Apple soon owned by Disney?
If the takeover rumors are coming to the fore again, it’s simply because Bob Iger himself has started talking about the idea, at least in part. In fact, at a press conference in Sun Valley (Idaho) in the USA, the Disney CEO spoke of the possibility of divesting certain companies and in particular the television channels he owned.
Iger specifically mentioned big names on the small screen like ABC, FX or Freeform by announcing that he “Be open-minded and objective about the future of these companies“. Everything, therefore, leads us to believe that these platforms’ assets should soon be put up for sale, and that was all it took for some industry players to imagine what was going to happen next.
After analyzing the situation, our colleagues out Bloomberg recalled, for example, that there had already been several rumors about a possible takeover of Disney by Apple, although the latter seemed too feverish to be taken seriously at a time when Bob Iger was merely stringing together acquisitions to build an entertainment empire. Now that the trend has reversed and Mickey’s company is thinking more about budget cuts and company sell-offs, It may well be that Apple is returning to the heart of the discussions.
Of course, if Bob Iger mentioned the idea of reselling Disney’s television division during the Sun Valley press conference, Nothing has been officially set up yet. These rumors should therefore be treated with caution and must be followed closely to learn how the situation is evolving.
