Bob Iger, Disney’s longtime CEO, recently returned to Disney after two years of retirement and debunked rumors that Apple would buy the company.
Disney abruptly fired former CEO Bob Chapek this month and reinstated Bob Iger. Disney wants the 71-year-old to lead the company for two years while it searches for a new CEO, Bob Iger, who previously led Disney for 20 years.
The returning CEO held his first town hall meeting with Disney employees today. During the meeting, Bob Iger reportedly addressed rumors that Apple and Disney could reach a merger agreement and operate as one company, and Bob Iger refuted all rumors to that effect during the company meeting. Bob Iger previously served on Apple’s board of directors for many years before exiting after Apple began competing with Disney in original video content.
While there are no media reports that Apple will buy Disney, certain analysts usually say that the situation makes sense.
Disney is a world away from the size of any company Apple has previously acquired. Apple’s most recent acquisition was Beats in 2014 for $3 billion, which included the foundation of Apple’s music subscription service.
As for Disney, Bob Iger called any discussion of Apple buying the company “pure speculation” at this point.
The man who acquired Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox for Disney during his last tenure as CEO also noted that Disney won’t be making any more big acquisitions in the near future, Deadline reports.
