Needham analyst Laura Martin thinks that Apple should acquire Disney “to drive adoption of Vision Pro.”
Alexandra Canal for Yahoo Finance:
“AAPL needs to buy DIS to drive adoption of Vision Pro,” she wrote in a note published on Tuesday. “The fact that DIS CEO Bob Iger was on stage touting AAPL’s Vision Pro goggles demonstrates the compelling strategic fit between DIS’s content and AAPL’s wearable technology.”
“At $3,500, we expect adoption to be slow. However, if AAPL buys DIS, its storytellers could create unique content to drive consumer adoption of AAPL’s Vision Pro goggles,” the analyst added.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, Laura doesn’t get it yet, bless her heart.
Disney’s stock shot up 4% as soon as Iger began speaking at Monday’s event. The executive touted a new partnership between the two companies centered on the headset. Users will be able to watch movies and TV shows from Disney+, in addition to a more immersive sports viewing experience.
“You can’t force Disney content makers to do anything unless you own them,” she said, brushing off suggestions a partnership would suffice as opposed to full-blown ownership given Disney would want to protect its P&L (profits and losses) and maximize revenue.
“My idea would be it’d be exclusive to this one platform,” she said, adding, “It’s worth more to Apple to have these storytellers and tell stories specifically for an iPhone or an iPad or a watch.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s Vision Pro is a new platform that introduces spatial computing, not merely a VR headset. Apple can order exclusive Disney content whenever they want without having to buy the company.
That’s not to say there aren’t myriad other synergies (Apple TV+, for one glaring example), but feeding Vision Pro is not a great reason on its own for such a large acquisition.
As we wrote back in April 2017 (which, of course, predates Disney’s recent issues):
We can think of worse mega acquisitions Apple could make.
With Disney, Apple would gain not only content, but tremendous leverage in many areas, including “television.” With Disney, Apple would own ESPN, for example. Not to mention ABC, A+E, Marvel, Lucasfilm, The Muppets, Pixar (Steve Jobs’ babies unite!), 30% of Hulu, and much, much more.
Spin off the theme parks or deck them out with Apple technology and use them to showcase Apple products. The sky’s the limit!
Such an acquisition would certainly jibe with some whispers we’d heard prior to the coronavirus outbreak of a major Apple acquisition possibly being in the works. Such an acquisition would of course be quite an undertaking as Apple would have to bring the parts of Disney that are unique (think theme parks) into the fold (or keep them as an Apple subsidiary). On the positive side, Apple TV+ would immediately become a massive streaming entity as Disney+ content rolled into Apple’s streaming service would be an instant juggernaut. – MacDailyNews, March 16, 2020
See also: <a href=https://macdailynews.com/2021/12/21/bob-iger-apple-and-disney-would-have-merged-if-steve-jobs-lived-longer/”>Bob Iger: Apple and Disney would have merged if Steve Jobs lived longer – December 21, 2021
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I seem to recall, back in the early 90s, that pundits were saying Disney should buy Apple! So we know what the value of their opinions is!
Apple doesn’t need the bad publicity like Disney has, with pushing gender transitioning with elementary kids in K-3.
which, of course, it absolutely isn’t doing.
…and drag queens aren’t pedos.
Stop falling for the binary false dichotomy. Most aren’t of course, but some are, and too many of the one’s pushing sexuality on kids are. Again, activist ______ are ruining it for all of the other _______ and causing divisiveness on both sides.
Writer, even by libturd standards, you are a particularly stupid fuck.
Sam, gurl, you catty thing! Put those claws away. That Mean Queen act is so tired, maybe try injecting some uplifting fabulousness before you post. A little love goes a long way, sweetie.
Braeburn, There is nothing mean in stating facts.
You can’t define a woman and you can’t spell “girl.” Color me impressed.
@Kenny: what facts? Sam doesn’t deal with facts. He/she/it is a political operative programmed only to issue attempted insults. When you read what he, and you, post, all that is accomplished is revealing how judgmental and narrow minded some people can be, snowflakes triggered not by a full set of facts but by their own biases. Grow up.
At the moment Disney has absolutely lost its way with their absurd Woke garbage!
And for what reason would Apple buy Disney? Apple’s streaming service is doing OK, all pretty high quality shows.TV+ occupies a niche and will likely survive the coming streaming shakeout. Disney, on the other hand, has a ton of problems, none of which are likely to be solved anytime soon. And that’s without wandering into the political/cultural landmines. Zero Hedge has more info; see here: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-06-07/disneys-liquidity-crisis-must-buy-hulu-early-2024-may-not-have-enough-cash
hmm…only if the stop the woke, grooming crap that Disney is now famous for.
I wish they could just get Pixar before Disney ruins it too much…
What many in the press and analysts haven’t figured out yet is there won’t be any real competition for a long while. AR failures have scared away the venture capital, and it takes an extremely deep bench (not just hardware and software, but custom silicon and development tools, plus sophisticated user interface design, plus developers and app stores, plus customers, plus music, sports and film production, plus retail stores, plus, plus, plus.
Only Apple can do this. I can’t think of anyone else in this position.
Disney is currently on sale for 50% off.
09/09/2021 DIS 185.91
06/08/2023 DIS 92.25
For constancy sake the Disney corporation needs to change its name and remove Walt’s image from the company. Or at least reimagine the original creator as a more inclusive demographic.
Will never happen, Disney is too important to the globalists as a propaganda platform, they wouldn’t give that up to Apple, and Apple (although not perfect) wouldn’t just blindly push propaganda.
The latest ant man movie, in addition to just being terrible, is blatant technocrat/communist propaganda, they even used the term ‘technocratic society’ in the movie (ffs) to describe the ‘heroes’ of the movie (trying not to spoil it, although there’s not much to spoil).