Is Apple buying Disney? The latest rumors, explained

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know Disney and Apple are two of the biggest multimedia companies in the world. Apple is responsible for outfitting the world with iPhones, iMacs, iPads, and more while Disney has transformed itself into a formidable entertainment company through acquisitions of Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, and 20th Century Fox, among other properties. Both companies are absolutely massive entities individually, but a merger between the two would shock the world (and probably also the US Department of Justice) to its core.

Disney’s CEO Bob Iger once wrote in his 2019 memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime, he believed Disney and Apple “would have combined [their] companies, or at least discussed the possibility very seriously” had Steve Jobs still been alive. Granted, this was published during his short-lived retirement — Iger would return to his post in late 2022 — and contingent on Jobs heading Apple, but it implies a merger of some sort has been considered.

Disney and Apple have shown they still have a special business relationship in recent years; remember how Iger shared a sneak peek of Disney Plus viewed on the Apple Vision Pro earlier this year? Now, as Disney suffers from a string of recent box office disappointments and Iger publicly declares he’s open to selling Disney’s linear TV networks, rumors are once again swirling about a potential merging of the two companies. Disney’s certainly broadcasting that it’s interested in selling but is Apple planning on buying?

Is Disney being sold to Apple?

Neither Disney nor Apple have confirmed whether a sale is happening, so the rumors will stay rumors for now. Rumors of the two companies joining forces have been spread since the dawn of Apple but never as persistently as they have this year. While we can’t be 100% certain as to what’s going to happen, one thing’s for sure — it’s unlikely Apple will acquire Disney as a whole, no matter what the rumors suggest.

On paper, it seems like Disney would be a financial drop in the bucket compared to Apple given the massive difference in market cap; an Aug. 9 article from The Hollywood Reporter stated Disney’s market cap is $158 billion while Apple has an astounding $2.8 trillion. Apple is obviously worth substantially more than Disney but that doesn’t translate to buying power. According to Investors.com, Apple is holding on to $202.6 billion in cash, and while that’s more than enough to buy Disney, it’s not a lot. A complete sale of Disney would likely cost Apple more than the company’s worth, both financially and when it comes to government interference.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice under the Biden administration have been aggressively going after smaller companies (though compared to Apple and Disney, that’s most of them) attempting similar acquisitions, but any administration is going to pay attention to a merger this size. The THR report also revealed how the FTC recently tried to block Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard and the DOJ successfully stopped Paramount from selling Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House, citing concerns of a monopsony (I’ll save you a trip to Google; Oxford defines a monopsony as “a market situation in which there is only one buyer”).

Disney was able to acquire properties as large as 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios but that doesn’t compare to the scale of Apple purchasing the Mouse itself. With Disney and Apple combining, concerns over a monopsony could arise again, though Disney could potentially bypass those by pledging to provide content to competitors like Netflix and Prime Video.

If Apple’s legitimately interested in purchasing Disney this time around, it would be more probable if it’ll purchase some of Disney’s linear TV assets rather than the entire company and all the drama that would entail. Iger’s already indicated an eagerness to sell and is reportedly in talks to find potential “strategic partners” for ESPN; it’s not much of a stretch to believe Apple could be negotiating for a piece of Disney’s linear programming pie. Disney’s cable programming was once responsible for keeping the company afloat and even when faced with challenges — like the increasing popularity of streaming platforms and the WGA/SAG-Aftra strikes — there’s still a lot of potential in these assets, especially when Disney’s vast media library is considered.

It’s fun (and also kind of terrifying) to speculate whether two entertainment behemoths will become one, but as of now, the rumor is still only a rumor. Many observers and supposed insiders believe Apple buying Disney is inevitable but just as many believe there’s no way such a massive sale will ever happen. Until anything is officially announced, remember to take any and all speculation with a metric ton of salt.