What if Apple acquired The Walt Disney Company?

Inspiration came from MarvelDCandFantasyFanBoy12’s idea.

“Analysts at RBC Capital Markets conducted a study to find out whether the acquisition of The Walt Disney Company by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. Apple Inc.] could be real,” Plugged In wrote. The amount of the proposed deal could be at least $200-$275 billion.

"The resulting company will be huge, and its financial capabilities will make it possible to revolutionize services, as well as the production of devices and content. If something can scare both Silicon Valley and Hollywood, then this is exactly such a combination," the experts explained.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic when the closure of Disney parks made The Walt Disney Company lost $1.4 billion and another $2.8 billion of revenue in November, and the company laid off 32,000 employees until March 2021, it could be possible that Apple would have the best chance to acquire Disney. (Even though Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56 on October 5, 2011.)

But what if the acquisition of The Walt Disney Company by Apple were to actually happen?

If Apple buys Disney, here’s what the changes would be like in the future.

List of changes

 * Apple would acquire The Walt Disney Company for $275 billion on June 26, 2022.
 * Apple would reduce the dependence of its business on iPhone sales, accounting more than 60% of all incomes.
 * Apple would be driving the development of services. With the slowdown in the smartphone market, Apple developing other directions and various services (including Apple Music) would be very important for the company. Disney, with its huge library of content and subscription media channels, would come in handy.
 * Apple TV+ would merge with Disney+ and end their deal with Peanuts, meaning Hallmark Cards would have a new deal with them through its Crown Media Family Networks division. Apple TV+'s more mature offerings would move to Hulu, FX, or Freeform.
 * Apple would be able to compete with Netflix and Amazon. By combining technological expertise with a library of content and experience in its production, the company could become a notable player in the streaming market. RBC wrote: “None of the players individually entered this market, possibly due to high competition. At the same time, the combined company would have a ready-made video distribution tool (via devices sold by Apple and the iTunes store), as well as a huge library of ready-made content and the capacity to produce films and TV shows.”
 * Disney shareholders get would direct financial benefits. If acquired by Apple, Disney's stock price would rise up to 18%.
 * 20th Century Animation would be re-established into a full-fledged animation studio managed by Chris Wedge (president), Carlos Saldanha (CEO) and Seth MacFarlane (co-president), and would move its headquarters to Glendale, California (the former home of DisneyToon Studios).
 * The deal would be completed on September 24, 2023, and Disney would change its name to Apple Media.
 * The pre-2023 Disney library would now be owned by Apple.
 * The newly-renamed Apple Media's film and television units - including Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Studios and 20th Television - would include the Apple Media byline on its logos.
 * Apple Media would acquire DNEG and rename it as 20th DNEG, becoming a computer animation unit of 20th Century Animation.
 * As a result of the closure of Blue Sky Studios, many of its employees would be transferred to 20th Century Animation, while others work for 20th DNEG.
 * The library and assets of the now-defunct Blue Sky Studios would be absorbed into 20th Century Animation as an in-name-only unit. 20th Century would produce new content based on Blue Sky’s legacy properties including Ice Age, Robots and Rio.
 * Disney would sell certain cable assets. One example would be Disney Channel, which would be sold to ViacomCBS. ViacomCBS in turn would merge Disney Channel with its own Nickelodeon brand; and would shut down the latter and phase out the brand as a whole to avoid confusion over branding.

Trivia

 * Despite these changes, Apple would still be one of the biggest major technologies in media industry, since it would still own film studios (Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Studios) and a broadcast network (ABC), as well as several major cable channels (such as ESPN, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Freeform and FX) and several theme parks (Disney Parks).