Once upon a time, Disney was the company that could not be caught. Its theme parks were unmatched. Its movies were nearly guaranteed to be a hit, and its stock prices remained steady and high. However, a lot can change in little time. The company steeply declined under the leadership of Bob Chapek and isn’t faring much better since the return of Bob Iger. The Parks are under increased criticism for how expensive they are to visit. Disney movies are also struggling to bring people to the theaters, and Disney’s stock is only about 50% of what it was at its high.
Over the past few months, there has been a lot of speculation that Bob Iger is considering selling Disney. Most of the speculation revolves around the company being sold to Apple, which is building up its entertainment business. Recently, another company came into the conversation — Blackstone Group. Blackstone Group is an investment and management company that owns more than one production company and has a worth of approximately $1 trillion.
Iger has said that he won’t comment on the possibility of selling the Walt Disney Company. But the big question is — Will he be able to?
Selling a company is not as easy as finding a buyer and then signing some contracts. The government keeps a close eye on large business mergers because monopolies are illegal under the Sherman Act. A monopoly is when a company buys up other companies in order to make the market smaller and give consumers fewer options for goods and services.
Anthony Sabino, an attorney, and professor at St. John’s University, said that, should Disney decide to sell, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) would examine every detail of the sale to the letter.
“It’s a given, it’s an absolute certainty that if there was some talk of Disney merging with somebody else, that would be scrutinized to the nth degree by the FTC, by the Department of Justice. So that would be basically walking into a bear trap that I’m not sure any company would be willing to get itself immersed with.”
Sabino also pointed out that Disney’s potential sale could rely heavily on the administration in power. Republican-led administrations are more likely to let large companies buy other large companies than Democratic-led administrations. There are also some recent mergers that could prove positive for Disney — mainly the Disney/20th Century Fox merger and the Microsoft/Activision merger.
Again, Bob Iger has said that he won’t discuss a possible sale. However, he has said that he is looking into selling the company’s linear networks, like ABC. Disney is also looking for a “strategic partner” to help run ESPN and contribute to the costs of running the sports network.