Analyst Suggests Apple Purchase ESPN to End Deal Drought
According to Wedbush, Apple Inc., known for its reluctance towards prominent acquisitions, should consider making an exception for ESPN, owned by Walt Disney Co., in order to enhance its sports content on its streaming-video platform.
An acquisition or strategic partnership with a sports channel would be a “no brainer,” wrote analyst Dan Ives. He said buying ESPN would probably cost more than $50 billion, but would make “a lot of strategic sense” by giving Apple valuable sports content, significant TV rights and “changes the cross-selling opportunities and appeal of Apple TV going forward.”
While Apple rarely makes big acquisitions — its biggest purchase was the $3 billion deal for Beats Music and Beats Electronics in 2014 — Ives doubts Apple could make an exception for ESPN.
“Apple recognizes that this streaming arms race has a ‘closing window’ of opportunity to acquire content and establish a foothold in the live sports content arena.”
Disney has announced that it is considering selling or seeking strategic partners for its broadcast and cable television assets. Executives have said they want to sell a stake in ESPN to a partner that can help accelerate the network’s transition to streaming.
To Ives, this suggests that ESPN “may be on the table in one form or another.” Other analysts have advocated for Apple to buy Disney outright.
Apple shares are unchanged on Thursday, while Disney shares have risen 0.4 percent. The iPhone maker is up about 36% this year through Wednesday’s close, though it’s down 10% from a recent peak, and its results have recently weighed on shares. Disney shares are little changed in 2023.
