Apple-Disney Merger Possible If Steve Jobs Was Still Alive, CEO Bob Iger Reveals

Apple and Walt Disney would have merged if Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs was alive. This is what Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger believes.

It was revealed in an excerpt from Iger’s upcoming autobiography published in Vanity Fair on Wednesday.

“I believe that if Steve were still alive, we would have combined our companies, or at least discussed the possibility very seriously,” Iger wrote.

There had been Disney news in the past that speculated a possible merger between Apple and Disney.

Most recently in 2017, some analysts speculated Apple could clinch a $200 billion-plus megadeal with Disney to create a tech and entertainment behemoth.

Varied portraits of Steve Jobs

The memoir is rich in anecdotes about his relationship with Jobs, who died of cancer in 2011. Iger unveils the attributes of Jobs as a visionary businessman, dealmaker, and a good human being.

Last week, Iger resigned from Apple’s board of directors, after a stint of 8 years on the tech giant’s top management body.

Things have changed. Now Apple and Disney are launching their competing streaming services in November named Disney+ and Apple TV+ respectively.

Disney’s deals with Jobs’ imprint

Iger recalls how their personal and professional bonds paved the way for deals that helped Disney considerably. The $7.4 billion takeovers of Jobs' company Pixar Animation, in 2006 were significant.

The Pixar deal, according to Iger, re-energized a floundering animation unit of Disney.

Iger recalls how Jobs also gave him a sneak peek of Apple’s new video iPod before it was unveiled. That followed a conversation where Iger mentioned the idea of “an iTunes platform for TV shows”.

To his surprise, Jobs showed him the exact thing Apple had been secretly working on. Subsequently, Disney’s ABC signed content service for the Apple iTunes video streaming service.

Iger also recalls how Jobs’ intervention during the negotiations for Disney’s purchase of Marvel Studios helped the company in 2009. The Marvel deal, like Pixar, proved quite lucrative for Disney.

On an emotional note, Iger looks back at the moments when Jobs disclosed to him he was at a critical stage of cancer, barely an hour before the announcement of the Disney-Pixar deal.

“I think I owe you the right, given this knowledge, to back out of the deal,” Jobs told him.

But Iger rejected the idea of backing out of the deal. He shared that traumatic news to his wife Willow Bay that night who had known Jobs for many years.

“Instead of toasting a momentous day in my early tenure as CEO, we cried together over the news,” Iger wrote.

Iger says he misses Jobs a lot. “With every success, the company has had since Steve’s death, there’s always a moment amid my excitement when I think, I wish Steve could be here for this,” Iger noted.

Apple stock soared 41 percent while Disney stock rallied 25 percent this year.

Analyst cuts Disney share price target

Meanwhile, despite Walt Disney stock outperforming this year an analyst at Imperial Capital cut its share price outlook citing potential headwinds at the film division. It sees impacts on earnings and tightening of future gains.

Investors might be upbeat about the assets Disney acquired at Fox, its box-office superiority, and the upcoming streaming service, but analyst David Miller has cut $1 from the price target to $139.

Miller has concerns about “what appears to be dim prospects for the upcoming 21 st Century Fox film Ad Astra.”

Disney took over underproduction Ad Astra along with other Fox assets. The science fiction film also features famous actress Ruth Negga.

Meanwhile, Target and Disney clinched a store deal in which Target will allow Disney stores in its premises. Target may start Disney store openings by October.

According to Target CEO Brian Cornell, the two companies had been working on the idea for almost a year.