Shit, as they say, has hit the fan. With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the entertainment industry, we’re beginning to see a lot of drastic measures occur, including theaters shutting down in the US, productions of major film/TV projects being halted, and studios releasing first-run films on VOD just to try to bring in some sort of cash during all this craziness. And according to one financial expert, it’s that uncertainty and craziness, particularly in the stock market, that could lead to a moment of opportunity for Apple.
Rosenblatt Securities analyst Bernie McTernan suggested something pretty drastic in his recently published report (via THR). He posited a situation where Apple could look at a company such as Disney, which is suffering major stock market losses (like almost every other company during this pandemic), as a potential acquisition.
“We believe those with long-time horizons, like mega-cap companies with large cash balances and whose equity outperformed Disney over the last three weeks, like Apple, could take advantage of the volatility,” the report states. “The upside from acquiring Disney would be securing their content/streaming strategy and potential synergies from adding the emerging Disney ecosystem to the iOS platform.”
Basically, Apple could spend the money on Disney, at this time when the stock price is at a low, and bolster its streaming offerings and library. And let’s face it, Apple TV+ hasn’t been the huge hit that the tech company was hoping it would be. Obviously, Apple would have to spend a huge amount of money to even consider buying Disney, but that would make the tech company a near-unstoppable entertainment company.
Obviously, this is just the opinion of a financial expert and not some report about how the two major companies are even discussing an acquisition. So take that for what it is. However, what it does illustrate is how the stock market implosion we’ve been witnessing over the last couple of weeks could lead to some great opportunities for Apple, or another company with plenty of cash, to take advantage. And if the tech company did want Disney, that would be a news story 10x bigger than when the Mouse House purchased Fox last year. The impact is almost too scary to imagine.
But hey, these are scary times. Crazier things have happened.
