Disney’s Bob Iger: “Not Merging with Apple”

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Deadline is reporting that the new Disney CEO held a Town Hall meeting with staffers when he announced that Disney would not be looking into any large purchases and that Apple would not be purchasing Disney.

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According to the article:

The 71-year old self described “Boomerang CEO” also said that the hiring freeze his pink-slipped predecessor Bob Chapek announced on November 11 is still in place. Offering his perspective from being outside the company for most of the past year after 47 years at Disney and ABC, Iger told staffers additionally that rumors of a merger or deal with Apple were just that — “pure speculation.” The man who bought Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox for Disney during his last stint as CEO also noted that the House of Mouse wasn’t looking to make anymore big ticket acquisitions any time soon.

The Apple scenario gained traction nearly two decades ago during the CEO tenure of Steve Jobs, with whom Iger enjoyed a close business and personal relationship. In reality, though, Apple has never pursued major M&A deals, its largest being its $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014. What’s more, most of Disney’s traditional holdings would likely be unattractive to a large-scale tech firm, and the size and complexity of any transaction would be exponentially greater than Amazon’s absorption of MGM (a deal that also sparked curiosity about Disney and Apple).

There have been several reports (including from us) speculating what an Apple buyout of Disney would look like.