Apple should buy Disney. Apple has a strong relationship with Disney. Disney bought Pixar that started with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs wife hold quite a bit of shares of Disney stock due to Pixar. A match made in heaven.
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
Apple should buy Disney. Apple has a strong relationship with Disney. Disney bought Pixar that started with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs wife hold quite a bit of shares of Disney stock due to Pixar. A match made in heaven.
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
These are the stories that scare me. If Apple ever buys a media giant, this long term shareholder will sell out. If Apple leadership loses focus and forgets what Apple does best, great experiences with consumer electronics, then it's time to move on.
Sony did exactly the same move, they bought Columbia Pictures/Columbia Music. They went from being an advocate for users of consumer electronics to a jealous guardian of their precious content. The result: they made a terrible mp3 player and opened the door for a new company laser focused on consumer electronics to come in and destroy them.
Apple Music is a toe in the water of content and every time I see Apple spending time on content instead of making great hardware and software, I am worried that the end has already begun.
Apple sells great experiences with consumer electronics. When they forget that, they are finished as the cutting edge company they have been for the past 18 years.
Apple should buy Disney. Apple has a strong relationship with Disney. Disney bought Pixar that started with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs wife hold quite a bit of shares of Disney stock due to Pixar. A match made in heaven.
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
I think it'll be a great idea in the long run.
disney has a huge following that can't live without them. Disney made Blu Ray win the disc wars. Apple can then have exclusive Disney content on Apple TV and watch sales skyrocket for the next 10 years.
The price is high but they'll make it back and Disney isn't losing money either.
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
I think it'll be a great idea in the long run.
disney has a huge following that can't live without them. Disney made Blu Ray win the disc wars. Apple can then have exclusive Disney content on Apple TV and watch sales skyrocket for the next 10 years.
The price is high but they'll make it back and Disney isn't losing money either.
Disney stock will crash within the next five years. Why buy now?
I got interested in Apple as a stock when it became clear that they considered to buy MGM. I'm talking 2004. Then I knew they had big plans. I started buying stock when they decided not to buy MGM.
Can somebody invent a reasonable ad-free bundle that's just every movie and scripted TV series ever made but no talking heads, reality shows, or sports? In other words, look at what people pirate and make a service with that.
Huh? "Every movie scripted show ever made" is owned by somebody different that would each have to negotiate a separate deal. Maybe somebody has a magic wand and pixie dust, but most of us live in the real world.
These are the stories that scare me. If Apple ever buys a media giant, this long term shareholder will sell out. If Apple leadership loses focus and forgets what Apple does best, great experiences with consumer electronics, then it's time to move on.
Sony did exactly the same move, they bought Columbia Pictures/Columbia Music. They went from being an advocate for users of consumer electronics to a jealous guardian of their precious content. The result: they made a terrible mp3 player and opened the door for a new company laser focused on consumer electronics to come in and destroy them.
Apple Music is a toe in the water of content and every time I see Apple spending time on content instead of making great hardware and software, I am worried that the end has already begun.
Apple sells great experiences with consumer electronics. When they forget that, they are finished as the cutting edge company they have been for the past 18 years.
Yeah, but the content part of Sony is what has kept them around for the last decade.
So Apple can't successfully negotiate a skinny down cable like bundle but Eddy Cue thinks he could run an old media conglomerate? Even acquiring TW and leaving it as a standalone business....does Apple really need to spend that much money to get exclusive content? And no way a deal like this would ever get approved unless the content was available on all platforms. Seems to me Eddy has enough on his plate as is.
actually everything you've referred to is exists only as rumors on niche rumor websites. I'm not sure why you present it as fact....other than you have it in your head that Cue and Schiller suck. oh, and bean counters. can't forget the bean counters.
why anybody believes this rumor -- that Cue discussed buying TW without *even talking to Cook* about it -- is just nuts. that didn't happen.
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
I think it'll be a great idea in the long run.
disney has a huge following that can't live without them. Disney made Blu Ray win the disc wars. Apple can then have exclusive Disney content on Apple TV and watch sales skyrocket for the next 10 years.
The price is high but they'll make it back and Disney isn't losing money either.
That's not realistic. You'd still have to have most of the Disney content and everything they own available on every platform like it is now or else viewership would tank and it'd all go away. Ever hear of DMA? You can't just have it one just one platform.
As much as we fans would like to see iOS device sales continue to grow exponentially common sense tells us that that cannot happen. The problem is determining what the next big thing is going to be in order to diversify. Artificial Intelligence? Maybe. Virtual Reality? Blathering nonsense. Autonomous automobiles? Could be. Software and services? Probably. Personally I see the hardware business becoming less and less profitable as miniaturization and automation lower production costs and margins greatly. When everybody can produce the same great hardware for the same cost there goes profit. I think Apple’s executive team is feeling more and more pressure every day to use that cash hoard for something.
Your last sentence is what concerns me. Apple shouldn't make big acquisitions because Cook is feeling pressure to spend some of Apple's cash.
how on earth do either of you know what Cook feels pressured to do? are you his therapist? a confidant? you're just a guy from MN on a rumor site, right?? so confused....
These are the stories that scare me. If Apple ever buys a media giant, this long term shareholder will sell out. If Apple leadership loses focus and forgets what Apple does best, great experiences with consumer electronics, then it's time to move on.
Sony did exactly the same move, they bought Columbia Pictures/Columbia Music. They went from being an advocate for users of consumer electronics to a jealous guardian of their precious content. The result: they made a terrible mp3 player and opened the door for a new company laser focused on consumer electronics to come in and destroy them.
Apple Music is a toe in the water of content and every time I see Apple spending time on content instead of making great hardware and software, I am worried that the end has already begun.
Apple sells great experiences with consumer electronics. When they forget that, they are finished as the cutting edge company they have been for the past 18 years.
man, if only the long-time execs at Apple knew how they got the company to be so great and were aware of the popular wisdom found only deep within niche rumor sites....i pray for these guys!! email them, now!
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
And who would want ESPN anyway?
If it were back in the day I'd say it would be huge, but lately every major sporting event is NOT on ESPN, but rather some other channel such as FOX or NBC. What would really be nice is if they could secure some kind of exclusive rights to this years Olympic games on AppleTV with maybe some additional coverage (bonus coverage). Of course its not going to happen, but it would be cool to see.
funny, Time Warner buys AOL and destroys it, now Apple considers buying Time Warner. For the billions it would cost Apple to do this, they might be more successful putting that money into standing up their own studio and/or creating their own original content.
Their own studio from scratch? When was the last time that happened and worked?
If Apple were to buy TWC, it would be for the film libraries first and for the cable networks second. It would instantaneously give them tons of content that they weren't able to license already and it would give them control over licensing that content to others. It would also give them the ability to stream any of the WB-owned cable networks, including HBO, and would give them both film and TV production facilities. In addition, it would give them a stake in the CW network (shared with CBS), although I suppose they could sell their stake to CBS if they didn't want it. It would also give them ownership of D.C. Comics (with rights to Superman, Batman, etc.) and a slew of movie franchises. It would also give Apple a political advantage in the U.S. in that they could claim a much higher number of U.S. employees (probably another 30,000+). If they didn't want to keep the comics, they could sell them to Disney.
The Warner library is tremendous: it's not just almost all WB films, but MGM and most RKO films as well. The smartest thing Ted Turner ever did was buying MGM, selling it, but keeping the library. It also includes New Line, Castle Rock, "Peanuts" (non-theatrical) and Sesame Street.
The downside of owning TWC is that as people cut cords (even if it's actually financially stupid to do so), this reduces revenues to the MSOs and as MSO revenue decreases, so will what the MSOs are willing to pay for the cable networks. Viacom is having severe problems in its largely cable network business and it may be the end of growth in those markets. And it won't come cheap. The other disadvantage is that margins in the media business are really low and owning TW would probably depress Apple's stock even more than it is, because it would decrease Apple's overall margin. Of course, Apple could "own" TW, but keep it as an independent division of the company, which would probably make more sense.
Sure, Apple could hire producers and independent studios to produce original content, but it would be ten years before they had a substantial library and most of the content would have relatively low cultural visibility if it didn't also appear on cable and/or the most popular streaming services.
Obviously, this isn't happening, but it's fun to imagine what Apple would have done with it had they bought it.
As for buying Disney (as other posters have proposed), the market cap is $161b and Apple would probably have to pay $200 billion to acquire it. In spite of the tremendous success Disney has had with the Star Wars film and the Marvel films, their actual income in 2015 from movie production was only a few hundred million $. And of course no big studio film ever makes a profit. And Wall Street is freaking out over declines in the TV business, especially ESPN.
These are the stories that scare me. If Apple ever buys a media giant, this long term shareholder will sell out. If Apple leadership loses focus and forgets what Apple does best, great experiences with consumer electronics, then it's time to move on.
Sony did exactly the same move, they bought Columbia Pictures/Columbia Music. They went from being an advocate for users of consumer electronics to a jealous guardian of their precious content. The result: they made a terrible mp3 player and opened the door for a new company laser focused on consumer electronics to come in and destroy them.
Apple Music is a toe in the water of content and every time I see Apple spending time on content instead of making great hardware and software, I am worried that the end has already begun.
Apple sells great experiences with consumer electronics. When they forget that, they are finished as the cutting edge company they have been for the past 18 years.
man, if only the long-time execs at Apple knew how they got the company to be so great and were aware of the popular wisdom found only deep within niche rumor sites....i pray for these guys!! email them, now!
I know, it's bizarre isn't it?
Why are these geniuses hanging out on websites instead of running multi-billion dollar companies?
So Apple can't successfully negotiate a skinny down cable like bundle but Eddy Cue thinks he could run an old media conglomerate? Even acquiring TW and leaving it as a standalone business....does Apple really need to spend that much money to get exclusive content? And no way a deal like this would ever get approved unless the content was available on all platforms. Seems to me Eddy has enough on his plate as is.
actually everything you've referred to is exists only as rumors on niche rumor websites. I'm not sure why you present it as fact....other than you have it in your head that Cue and Schiller suck. oh, and bean counters. can't forget the bean counters.
why anybody believes this rumor -- that Cue discussed buying TW without *even talking to Cook* about it -- is just nuts. that didn't happen.
I don't think it's something that's ever seriously been discussed at Apple. My comments are directed towards those who think this would be a good idea. Or Wall Street types who are just itchy for Apple to spend some of its cash.
Comments
What would they get out of it, free tickets to Disney World? Sure, they'd own Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but if they can use this strong relationship to get some kind of exclusive agreement that would be a lot cheaper vs buying them outright. And just because you have those channels, doesn't mean Comcast will all of a sudden give in to the terms/agreements Apple wanted along with other cable partners.
Sony did exactly the same move, they bought Columbia Pictures/Columbia Music. They went from being an advocate for users of consumer electronics to a jealous guardian of their precious content. The result: they made a terrible mp3 player and opened the door for a new company laser focused on consumer electronics to come in and destroy them.
Apple Music is a toe in the water of content and every time I see Apple spending time on content instead of making great hardware and software, I am worried that the end has already begun.
Apple sells great experiences with consumer electronics. When they forget that, they are finished as the cutting edge company they have been for the past 18 years.
disney has a huge following that can't live without them. Disney made Blu Ray win the disc wars. Apple can then have exclusive Disney content on Apple TV and watch sales skyrocket for the next 10 years.
The price is high but they'll make it back and Disney isn't losing money either.
why anybody believes this rumor -- that Cue discussed buying TW without *even talking to Cook* about it -- is just nuts. that didn't happen.
If it were back in the day I'd say it would be huge, but lately every major sporting event is NOT on ESPN, but rather some other channel such as FOX or NBC. What would really be nice is if they could secure some kind of exclusive rights to this years Olympic games on AppleTV with maybe some additional coverage (bonus coverage). Of course its not going to happen, but it would be cool to see.
If Apple were to buy TWC, it would be for the film libraries first and for the cable networks second. It would instantaneously give them tons of content that they weren't able to license already and it would give them control over licensing that content to others. It would also give them the ability to stream any of the WB-owned cable networks, including HBO, and would give them both film and TV production facilities. In addition, it would give them a stake in the CW network (shared with CBS), although I suppose they could sell their stake to CBS if they didn't want it. It would also give them ownership of D.C. Comics (with rights to Superman, Batman, etc.) and a slew of movie franchises. It would also give Apple a political advantage in the U.S. in that they could claim a much higher number of U.S. employees (probably another 30,000+). If they didn't want to keep the comics, they could sell them to Disney.
The Warner library is tremendous: it's not just almost all WB films, but MGM and most RKO films as well. The smartest thing Ted Turner ever did was buying MGM, selling it, but keeping the library. It also includes New Line, Castle Rock, "Peanuts" (non-theatrical) and Sesame Street.
The downside of owning TWC is that as people cut cords (even if it's actually financially stupid to do so), this reduces revenues to the MSOs and as MSO revenue decreases, so will what the MSOs are willing to pay for the cable networks. Viacom is having severe problems in its largely cable network business and it may be the end of growth in those markets. And it won't come cheap. The other disadvantage is that margins in the media business are really low and owning TW would probably depress Apple's stock even more than it is, because it would decrease Apple's overall margin. Of course, Apple could "own" TW, but keep it as an independent division of the company, which would probably make more sense.
Sure, Apple could hire producers and independent studios to produce original content, but it would be ten years before they had a substantial library and most of the content would have relatively low cultural visibility if it didn't also appear on cable and/or the most popular streaming services.
Obviously, this isn't happening, but it's fun to imagine what Apple would have done with it had they bought it.
As for buying Disney (as other posters have proposed), the market cap is $161b and Apple would probably have to pay $200 billion to acquire it. In spite of the tremendous success Disney has had with the Star Wars film and the Marvel films, their actual income in 2015 from movie production was only a few hundred million $. And of course no big studio film ever makes a profit. And Wall Street is freaking out over declines in the TV business, especially ESPN.
Why are these geniuses hanging out on websites instead of running multi-billion dollar companies?
The spinning off would be impossible. Who would buy the bits Apple didn't want?