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Bob Iger, chief executive officer of The
Walt Disney Company, walks with Tim Cook, chief executive officer of
Apple Inc., as they attend the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley
Conference, July 6, 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
RBC Capital Markets told investors a mega-merger of Apple and Disney, though unlikely, would make sense strategically for the iPhone maker.
"We have seen increased discussions among investors regarding 'How could AAPL gain scale in media/content and what could it do with potential cash repatriation?" analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a note to clients Thursday.
"We see a confluence of events that make an acquisition of DIS a 'greater than 0 percent' probability event (while odds are low). AAPL's focus on services and its inability (so far) to replicate its music/iTunes strategy into content/media make acquiring DIS logical in our view."
Daryanani cited Apple CEO Tim Cook's comments that "deal size isn't a negating factor" for its future mergers and acquisitions.
In addition, the analyst noted the Republican tax repatriation holiday proposals, where corporations can bring home overseas earnings at a lower tax rate. If this tax reform becomes law, the iPhone maker will have access to its more than $200 billion held abroad for acquisitions, he said.
Daryanani gave six reasons why Apple may buy Disney:
- "Accelerates AAPL's push into services and content."
- "Instantly leapfrogs Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube in content and resets the lead with content narrative."
- "AAPL has been unable to replicate its music playbook to video."
- "Iconic brand — there are few brands that AAPL could acquire that wouldn't dilute its iconic presence and customer relationships; DIS would clearly strengthen (and not dilute) the brand value."
- "Even using minimal cost synergy, we see the deal being accretive by 15-20 percent."
- "AAPL has been increasingly looking at larger deals and noted that services is a focus."
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