Well... ATT bought TimeWarner who owned HBO & Cinemax and lost their shirts. They spun it off and it merged with Discovery who are the people who gave us Alaskan reality TV shows ad nauseum and gave us Kate Gosselin. All Warner Brothers Discovery wants to do is to layoff employees, cancel shows, and raise prices.
"Disney Plus" is a loser's bet. The only reason I care is I don't want Apple to waste billions and then raise the price of iPhones and iPads because of this monumental money pit.
Disney is under some pretty serious financial pressures, but it's not for sale. The most profitable part of the company is the parks, and they will never sell those. But what might be for sale is some of the IP - eg. Lucas Film, Marvel, or Pixar. But what I'd expect to see first is some sort of license where Apple TV+ gets Disney Plus content shortly after it's released on Disney (or maybe they get rights to distribute after a series has completed on Disney Plus.) That would help Apple get a real handle on the revenue opportunity there and if it works, then make a play for overall IP ownership (assuming that Disney gets desperate enough)
While the deal would make plenty of sense from Wall Street's POV, it really doesn't help the end-consumer at all.
Moreso, it would take away from the idea that Apple is a computing company, and would transform it into an entertainment company that also makes computers. Just my 2 cents. If I was Cook I wouldn't go for this deal...but I'm not Cook and I have no idea what he's thinking.
Disclaimer: I'm long Apple through LEAP options, and also own shares
Oh, they also don't give a damn whatsoever. But they have to pretend that they do to a lot more than Wall Street does. They still have end-user customers, who have the power to buy goods and services, which in turn does have some pull, albeit not much.
If Apple buys Disney, and a bunch of people leave or join Apple TV+ due to said acquisition, that will affect Apple's stock, and you can be sure Wall Street cares about that.
Not sure why anyone would want to buy Disney with regards to it's media arm to be honest - the IP has been flogged to death recently and most recent iterations aren't earning the big numbers.
I think Amazon could probably utilise more of it (toys, free prime time adverts, tv content, games etc.).
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/13/warner-bros-discovery-me...
"Disney Plus" is a loser's bet. The only reason I care is I don't want Apple to waste billions and then raise the price of iPhones and iPads because of this monumental money pit.