Media giant Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) has grown through acquisitions of several media companies under the previous leadership of CEO Bob Iger. The company may have looked significantly different if one or two proposed deals had happened.
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Disney Almost Merged With Apple
Iger recently stepped down from a second stint leading Disney as the CEO. Now no longer the CEO of the company, Iger seems eager to talk about his lasting legacy at the media giant and what could have been.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Iger said that Disney almost acquired social media platform Twitter, but the CEO got cold feet and worried that the smaller company could be a "horrible distraction."
Iger said Disney could have bought Twitter for "a very attractive price" before it pulled out of a deal.
Iger also admitted that Disney discussed plans of a potential merger with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).
"We talked about it internally, and we had some conversations with Apple about it, but it never went anywhere," Iger said. "Apple didn’t show that much interest."
According to a report from 9to5Mac, Iger previously wrote in a memoir that he believed Apple and Disney would have merged if Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs was still alive.
Also on the potential acquisition list was James Bond, the spy franchise, which is now part of Amazon.
Iger’s Deals That Happened
The latest Iger interview sees the former CEO celebrate the deals he did get done during his time as Disney CEO from 2005 to 2020 and again from 2022 to 2026.
This includes the following acquisitions:
- 2006: Pixar, $7.4 billion
- 2009: Marvel, $4 billion
- 2012: Lucasfilm, $4.1 billion
- 2019: Fox, $71 billion
Iger recalled a working relationship with Pixar and its co-founder Jobs, with the relationship between the two companies once on the rocks.
"I knew if I don’t fix Disney Animation, I’m not going to be a CEO very long," Iger said.
Iger recalled working to put Disney content on the video iPod, a deal that helped win over Jobs and made him like the media company more, ahead of an eventual acquisition deal.
The acquisitions of Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel (best known as a "comic book" company) saw investors and Hollywood insiders skeptical that any would work. But the Pixar and Marvel deals have transformed Disney and are now known as two of the best back-to-back deals by a CEO.
The Lucasfilm deal, which brought Star Wars into Disney’s control, was also viewed as a win and profitable.
Disney’s large deal for 21st Century Fox in 2019 has drawn plenty of pushback and remains a key talking point today. Iger views the deal as a major win as it boosted Disney’s future in streaming, gaining majority control of Hulu and a large content library.
"It enabled us to be a number two to Netflix globally and, if my goal was to create longevity or endurance for the company, both as a brand and as a business, that’s what Disney now has."
Photo: Shutterstock
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