What if Bob Iger returned to Disney to sell to Apple?

On Nov. 21, The Walt Disney Company surprised with a movement in its upper echelons that left the industry speechless. The company was retiring Bob Chapek as CEO just two years after he took the job. Instead they handed the CEO chair back to his predecessor, Bob Iger, the man behind the acquisitions of 21st Century Fox, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and Pixar.. The company argued that only Iger would be able to bring Disney to a successful conclusion at a time full of change and with a very uncertain future for audiovisual entertainment.

Since his return, there have been many jokes and rumors about what else he could buy to solidify The Walt Disney Company’s position. But what we didn’t expect was that one of the main gossip in Hollywood theaters wasn’t Iger going shopping, but him considering putting Disney up for sale. According to The Wrap, a company insider is convinced that hanging the “for sale” sign is more than likely: “He’s going to sell the company. It’s the summit of the agreements for the definitive negotiator”.

But who is Disney going to sell to? The one that sounds more is Apple. A former high-ranking executive of the company believes that it is the closest company to the way of working in the mouse house and they have “similar brand identities”. Also, he thinks that for Bob Iger it would be the biggest trophy of his career: “I would be the last Disney CEO”. It’s not the first time we’ve heard of a merger between Disney and Apple. Indeed, in the book ‘Lessons in Creative Leadership’, written by Iger himself, he explains that if Steve Jobs were still alive, the conversation about joining the two companies would surely have happened. Iger and Tim Cook may not have the strong friendship they had with Jobs, but Disney and Apple have continued to work together and maintain a good relationship.

Would they have influenced the antitrust courts?

But we would be talking about one of the largest acquisitions ever seen, given that Disney is a company worth almost 200 billion dollars. Apple could afford the purchase, although it would be a risky move for a company that tends to play it safe. And on the other hand, It is very unlikely that a purchase of this size will convince the antitrust judges, who have already studied the acquisition of 21st Century Fox with a magnifying glass. and that they now have on their hands another merger between an audiovisual company and a tech giant, and not just any two companies. For now, these are just rumors, but everything indicates that the two more years Bob Iger has signed on as executive director of The Walt Disney Company will be intense.