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Silicon_Knight t1_iy4ivv6 wrote

I don’t get the Apple rumour. They won’t want to own theme parks but I could see a long term agreement on content distribution. Inverse Pixar lol.

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Neo2199 OP t1_iy4jpf2 wrote

Bog Iger was a close friend to the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, he spoke a few times in the past about Disney/Apple merging.

Bob Iger says Apple & Disney would have merged if Steve Jobs was alive - Dec 21, 2021

> In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Iger noted that Jobs was passionate about "everything that Disney did." He said the late Apple co-founder and CEO always appreciate combining "great technology" with "great creativity."

> "The intersection — one side liberal arts, one side technology," Iger said. "That's what made his heart sing."

> Iger continued, adding that Disney's content would have been a natural fit for the way that Apple was changing how it delivers content to users.

> "I'm pretty convinced we would have had that discussion," Iger said. "I think we would have gotten there."

> This is not the first time that Iger has brought up the potential of an Apple-Disney merger if Jobs had lived. In his 2019 memoir, Iger said that he believed "if Steve were still alive, we would have combined our companies, or at least discussed the possibility very seriously."

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Silicon_Knight t1_iy4ruw9 wrote

Yes I read his book too quite a good read. Technically Iger was friends with Jobs wife and that relationship extended to Jobs eventually. I think Jobs would have but I didn’t say Jobs, I said Apple.

I stand by that I don’t think Apple would want to run a theme park today.

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browncharliebrown t1_iy9rsvi wrote

Apple running the parks would actually be quite interesting. Something like magic bands being fully replaced with Apple Watches. Or maybe apple improving computer systems for rides

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Yindeenia01 t1_iya7hoa wrote

Then they could give me a portion of the company. That would be the best day in history.

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Silicon_Knight t1_iya7ltu wrote

You can purchase a portion of the company on the stock market.

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Yindeenia01 t1_iya8iu5 wrote

I meant acquiring all Pixar and then some. I would definitely love to run a theme park. But the stock market is a great place to start.

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Flynn58 t1_iyalndw wrote

I mean they could create a larger corporate umbrella while keeping Apple and Disney separate business units with their own management.

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InformationLow4050 t1_iy5dgbj wrote

Wasn’t Jobs chairman of Disney before he passed?

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Neo2199 OP t1_iy5ewmk wrote

He was a member of Disney's board and the largest shareholder as well.

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AveryLazyCovfefe t1_iy5ko6u wrote

He did have a huge influence on early Pixar I believe. Which is why there are references to him quite a bit throughout Pixar movies, such as some characters in movies using iPhones or other apple products.

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griswald123 t1_iy5t6zf wrote

I mean he founded Pixar… so ya. Haha

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throwaway12junk t1_iy5xegg wrote

Not Jobs, George Lucas.

Pixar was created to design custom hardware for what we now call CGI. After Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985, he bought Pixar from Lucasfilms to create a rival computer company. It failed largely because the brains behind the actual hardware was Steve Wozniak; Jobs was the marketing man.

This failure prompted Jobs to reverse Pixar back to CGI R&D. Around the same time they hired John Lasseter who was fired from Disney for promoting CG animation. On the brink of bankruptcy, Jobs let Lassiter do whatever he wanted. So he created Toy Story.

The financial success of that film, Apple failing without Jobs, and secret bankrolling from Warren Buffett allowed Jobs to return to Apple and set the stage for iTunes and iPod, later culminating into the iPhone and iPad.

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seakingsoyuz t1_iy919wp wrote

Your first paragraph is merging NeXT and Pixar, which were entirely separate companies.

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griswald123 t1_iy5zq5j wrote

Founded the Pixar we know today. He made them what they are. I guess founded isn’t technically correct. More like what Elon did with Tesla. Yes he didn’t found it, but bought and brought it to what it is today. Know one would know Pixar as we do a household name today if it wasn’t for Jobs.

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AveryLazyCovfefe t1_iy5tbsa wrote

I thought those were mere fables haha. Absolutely can see how Apple has had an impact on Disney now.

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tr3v1n t1_iy5wyer wrote

Pixar existed for years as part of ILM. Eventually George Lucas wanted to spin it off and that is where Steve Jobs comes in. He bought into it securing a controlling share. Calling this founding it seems weird to me since it was a thing without him. He was an investor.

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griswald123 t1_iy5tmg3 wrote

Walter Issacson’s biography on Jobs is great. Highly recommend. Amazing what was going on in that man’s brain.

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Pristine-Today4611 t1_iy7t4a3 wrote

Only way that would have happened is if Steve Job was given control of the whole company. Steve Jobs was a perfectionist he would never let someone else or any board dictate what he did.

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Brainiac7777777 t1_iyaxsac wrote

This is not true at all. Bob Iger was the Chairman of the Board of Apple

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Rumbleinthejungle8 t1_iy4owhp wrote

It would have made sense a few years ago, having Apple develop Disney+ (who has a lot more experience developing software) and bundling it with iPhones and whatnot.

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Worthyness t1_iy4xp1q wrote

If Jobs was still alive it might legitimately have been a thing. Jobs and Iger and Disney have been intertwined heavily for a long time. But once Jobs passed it probably stopped being a thing on the table

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bigboygamer t1_iy6hsb5 wrote

If Jobs were still alive you'd get an over priced streaming service with very few but very good shows.

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__theoneandonly t1_iy78b1v wrote

Isn’t that exactly what Apple TV+ is meant to offer today? For $7/month or whatever it is now, you get a small selection of high-budget original content.

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bigboygamer t1_iy7q5fq wrote

Yeah but overall it's an underwhelming experience.

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__theoneandonly t1_iy8dg0p wrote

I guess that’s an opinion. I thought it was underwhelming during the 12-month free trial. But it’s hard to be underwhelmed by something that’s free. Then the 12 free months turned into 21 free months because of COVID delaying all their productions.

Now I feel like they have as many originally shows that I’m actively watching (meaning I’m either watching, they’re in my to-watch list, or I’m waiting for a new season to come out) as any of the other streamers.

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velsor t1_iy4xqct wrote

It wouldn't have made sense a few years ago either. Buying Disney is the exact opposite of the content strategy Apple has been pursuing since 2017.

Buying the old TimeWarner (mainly to get HBO) would have made more sense for Apple, but even that is far too big an acquisition for Apple to have been interested.

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Rumbleinthejungle8 t1_iy54m52 wrote

Maybe a full aquicistion would have been too much, but a partnership or something where they helped develop Disney+ and get new suscribers while sharing revenue with Disney for providing the content.

Disney is more mainstream and has broader appeal than HBO, seems like better content for Apple.

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FanofK t1_iy70icf wrote

Disney already had BAMTech so they had a company with the expertise.

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Radulno t1_iy4zvkj wrote

Yeah I really think they should have got it before Discovery (because now the Discovery part don't interest them).

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Worthyness t1_iy5f3dj wrote

Should have taken Fox while it was up for grabs. Easily could have outbid Disney and Comcast and would have given them the IP they need for their streaming service

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Radulno t1_iy5gr9h wrote

To be fair, I'm happy they don't have IP. They might be the only ones to actually do new things (though adaptations of new stuff still count as IP I guess but it's different).

HBO would just have suited their prestige programming very well. And they also had IP with that of course including probably the biggest in TV with Game of Thrones.

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3758232352 t1_iy5697o wrote

No it wouldn’t. Disney bought BAMtech for the software side of things.

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n0t-again t1_iy84x1u wrote

It would have made sense while Steve was the majority shareholder in Disney but we all know how that story goes...

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naynaythewonderhorse t1_iy55m7y wrote

As a fan of both companies (yeah, I’m a sheep or whatever you wanna call me) a merger would be absolutely horrifying.

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Shapen361 t1_iy58dln wrote

No way FTC would let Apple and Disney pass. If anything, Apple would have to sell off its media division from Services to Disney, which would be a bad move for them.

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unkDelawareunk t1_iy72r6q wrote

The Microsoft/Activision merger is about to fail due to antitrust concernes, these talks about a Disney-Netflix, Disney-Apple mergers are laughable. Disney also needs money if it wants to buyout Comcast's interest in Hulu and merge it with Disney+.

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Shapen361 t1_iy74l9w wrote

Nothing has changed for the Microsoft-Activision merger except for a rumor story on Politico. I don't see why the FTC should block it if Microsoft keeps COD cross-console. Sony has way more and better exclusives, and it wouldn't make Microsoft a monopoly in mobile games. It really would just come down to Lina Khan trying to assert her authority.

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[deleted] t1_iy8pgtp wrote

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Trot1995 t1_iyblc0c wrote

I admit I don't follow the gaming scene closely anymore, but in what way is activation a monopoly they make a few bad games every year.

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[deleted] t1_iyd2l13 wrote

[deleted]

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Trot1995 t1_iyd3kyl wrote

I have no idea what microsoft game pass is or why it's a problem. Nor do I see how it would drive people from the market. Steam still dominates the computer gaming space. And Sony and Nintendo aren't going to exit the space.

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LumpyCamera1826 t1_iy7mc4t wrote

It's still unlikely that it is going to fail. Probably going to have some concessions but doubt it will fail

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ronearc t1_iy5f0an wrote

Apple has a stupid amount of available cash on the books, and unless they're run by idiots (they're not), they're eyeballing a lot of big merger and acquisition opportunities which would allow them to divest substantially from their current position which is almost singularly dependent upon continued cooperation from China.

Any companies that can offer them that may be in their M&A sights. I've been concerned for awhile that they might gobble up Disney, and I'd hate that. While Disney isn't exactly the poster-child for responsible corporate behavior, they're better by a long stretch than Apple.

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smokeyjay t1_iy5k5yz wrote

The nice thing about Apple is that they usually don't blow all their money on dumb acquisitions. I think Beats was their biggest acquisition and that was 3 billion. For a tech company, there pretty cost discipline.

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ronearc t1_iy5lgbu wrote

Yes, but their cash-on-hand has shrunk dramatically over the last few years. Now that may be an indicator of reason for them not to use their ready cash for an acquisition.

But interest rates have also risen, and borrowing money for a big acquisition would be cost prohibitive. They also draw criticism among shareholders for not making better use of their cash reserves.

Their factories in China are fighting a constant war of protest and disruption of late. China itself is becoming more volatile.

I think there may be a sense among some major investors that Apple has a very real need to diversify their potential profit streams.

Maybe they hoard their cash against the coming storm. Or maybe they spend a big chunk of it acquiring a company so large that the acquisition may lift them both, but for that to work, they'd need to acquire a company so solid, no one doubts their future is bright.

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smokeyjay t1_iy5n5bt wrote

Investors don't mind. There the only big tech company that actually buys back shares, and not to offset stock based compensation. They've always had massive cash reserves.

They also have AR/VR that may come out next year. And there doing the apple car thing as well. They've been diversifying away from hardware and doing more subscriptions and tying customers into their ecosystem.

I always thought Apple should buy Peloton if they could get it for 2 billion. I see a lot of synergy with the bike, apple watch, air pods, apple music, and apple subscription. The bike is basically an ipad attached to a bike anyways.

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DaveShadow t1_iy659zq wrote

I presume this is why they’ve been linked with Manchester United this week too.

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sgthombre t1_iy4oi1p wrote

Also it was being pitched as an ego thing for him but that seemed really backward to me, does he want his legacy to be buying two major media prosperities and then selling the company years later?

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TraptNSuit t1_iy55h5n wrote

Yeah, the man who killed Disney is what he would become. Disney as a subsidiary of Apple is not the same thing at all. Maybe everyone would make scads of money, but that's really not the same and it would pretty much be the death of Walt's dream then and there.

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Radulno t1_iy4zlrr wrote

Content distribution of what? They both have their streaming service already...

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Silicon_Knight t1_iy50auq wrote

For now. It’s not like they couldn’t partner and shut down D+ with a free transition to AppleTV+

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Barfstool_Sports t1_iy51gqq wrote

lol they would not shut down D+ in favor of Apple TV+

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Silicon_Knight t1_iy521ie wrote

I didn’t say they would, I said they could. I’m sure other models can exist like bundle deals etc… I’m simply saying just because there are two offerings it doesn’t mean there can’t be more. Look at Disney with Hulu.

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kaenneth t1_iy5puue wrote

I had Hulu separate from Disney, but they recently forced the account to merge for some reason...

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Rosebunse t1_iy50kap wrote

In a book Iger said he discussed the merger with Steve Jobs. Ever since there have been rumors that Disney wants to merge with Apple. I mean, maybe they do, but there are a lot of reasons for them not to.

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Silicon_Knight t1_iy51rz0 wrote

Yes I read the book but he explicitly said “if Steve was still alive we may have…”. I’m not talking about what could have been I’m talking about Apple of today. I still don’t think they would want to be in that industry. They want the content.

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UnnamedArtist t1_iy77sdh wrote

I’d actually expect Apple to buy Warner. Instant catalogue. DC, HBO, looney toons, etc.

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travio t1_iy9is07 wrote

That, or Sony. With Sony, they get content but also get into the console game, and more importantly, they get into VR with Sony's upcoming PSVR 2 platform.

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