Disney has had its fair share of ups and downs over the last few months. From the dramatic ousting of Disney CEO Bob Chapek in November of last year to the current back and forth about Reedy Creek that is presently taking over headlines. Most recently, Disney made waves for its subversion of DeSantis’s specially appointed board for the district, with many applauding the Mouse House’s ingenuity and others feeling frustrated because they felt Disney was going against what the people of Florida voted for.
Now, an analyst is arguing that Apple should buy Disney and the companies should merge in a deal that could be worth $200 billion. As reported by Seeking Alpha, Needham analyst Laura Martin stated that the deal would make a lot of sense as “Apple and Disney are ‘complementary’ due to each company having particular strengths that could become stronger together.”
Needham also argued both companies are “marketing juggernauts.” As the article elaborates, both companies have “rabid fanbases of customers” and have the ability to charge premium costs for their customers.
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Martin highlighted that Apple’s current valuation of $2.6T puts it in a very specific league that few other companies except Microsoft can compete with (Disney is capped at $178B), and if Apple buys the Walt Disney Company, it could make the former’s shareholders would benefit from it, and even if Apple were to pay $200B for this merger (which Martin contends it can afford), it would be well worth it for the position it will put Apple in. As Martin says, the merger “would place itself in a content and technology position that could be unassailable.”
Martin said, “Defensively, content beats technology as a multi-decade moat.” She added that the merging of Disney’s and Apple’s products could even give Apple a 25% boost in market value.
Needless to say, this could be incredibly beneficial for both parties, however, at this point, it’s unclear if this could truly happen, and it remains pure speculation for now.