Foreign media once again revealed that Apple may acquire Disney, which is not a fantasy idea

In a recent interview with CNBC, Bob Iger said that Disney's traditional TV stations such as ABC and FX are no longer the company's core business and may be sold. A few weeks ago, a senior Hollywood executive broke the news to The Hollywood Reporter that there will soon be a deal that will shake the entire industry: Apple will acquire Disney.

The merger of the two companies is not a fantasy idea and has been discussed in Hollywood, although many executives have scoffed at the rumor. Some industry insiders believe that Apple will not acquire the big company, and Bob Iger just wants to divest some assets of the entertainment empire to maintain long-term development.

But no buyer can be like Apple, which has $62 billion in cash and a market value of $2.8 trillion. Many years ago, Apple said it did not want to acquire a movie company, but Disney seems to be attractive to them because the company has a lot of priceless IP and is still the most valuable brand in the entertainment industry.

Steve Jobs served on the Disney board from 2006 until his death in 2011. Shortly after Jobs' death, Bob Iger joined Apple's board of directors, but he resigned from the position on September 10, 2019, the same day Apple announced that it would enter the film and television self-produced content track through the Apple TV+ service.

Some Hollywood executives predict that the number of film companies will continue to decline significantly in the future. A senior industry insider said: "In the end, there will only be 3 or 4 platforms left, and the others will go bankrupt and be acquired.

Perhaps the remaining ones are Apple, Amazon, Netflix, NBC Universal, Warner and Paramount, and they may survive together. The US government will not sit idly by and watch such large-scale mergers in the entertainment industry, and everything is still uncertain.

Iger, who returned to the CEO position last November, has never faced such great pressure. On the one hand, Disney is facing many difficulties in its transformation, and many of his partners are no longer in the company: General Counsel Alan Braverman and Film Director Alan Horn retired. Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy left the company after 23 years because she got too close to Bob Chapek when he was CEO.

In a research report in June this year, American financial experts said that Disney could provide Apple with a catalyst to promote the popularity of the Vision Pro augmented reality helmet. The person wrote: "The fact that Disney CEO Bob Iger promoted Apple's Vision Pro on stage shows that there is a compelling strategic fit between Disney's content and Apple's wearable technology."

Not everyone is optimistic about the rumor. Anthony Sabino, a lawyer and professor at St. John's University who calls himself a "crazy Disney fan," said Iger's contract extension and the potential sale of Disney's linear TV assets show that Disney's board of directors wants him to lead the company rather than sell it.

In Bob Iger's autobiography published a few years ago, he mentioned that when Disney acquired Apple's Pixar Studios, he developed a deep friendship with then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and said that if Jobs had not died of cancer, there would be a great possibility that the two companies would merge.

Comparison of market capitalization of US tech giants and Hollywood companies

Apple: $2.8 trillion

Amazon: $1.45 trillion

Netflix: $193 billion

Comcast: $187 billion

Disney: $158 billion

Warner explores $35 billion

Fox Group $16 billion

Paramount: $11 billion