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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