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Credit: ABC News (left), Disney (right)There have been rumors that The Walt Disney Company might be for sale, and it’s not surprising to know that Elon Musk could be a suitor if a deal of this magnitude were to happen.
Disney, founded by Walt Disney and his brother Roy in 1923, is one of the world’s most prominent entertainment conglomerates. It began as a simple animation studio and has grown into a global powerhouse, encompassing theme parks, movie studios, television networks, merchandise, and more.
Umbrellas under The Walt Disney Company include Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, as well as many other media organizations. The company’s theme parks, like Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, have become destinations for millions of people seeking magical experiences, and that doesn’t even count the Disney Cruise Line and the standalone Disney Resorts that fans can experience.
Recently, Inside the Magic covered a report from Bloomberg indicating that the company’s CEO, Bob Iger, is looking to downsize. According to the report, Iger has currently “put roughly a third of the company up for sale this week,” and declared “Disney’s linear TV assets noncore.” These TV networks include ABC, FX, and Freeform. In addition, it seems that Iger would like to have a “strategic partner” for ESPN, but is unwilling to “sell the whole thing.” This isn’t the first time that reports have come forward indicating that Disney might be interested in offloading some of its assets, with one analyst suggesting that Apple could be a strategic partner as it is attempting to get Apple TV off the ground.
However, one name that has always been closely related to potentially buying out the company is Elon Musk.
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and engineer known for co-founding companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. Musk’s ambitious goals have significantly impacted multiple industries, including electric vehicles, space exploration, and sustainable energy. In addition, the billionaire purchased the social media platform Twitter and has angered quite a few people in the process.
While Disney might be looking to offload some of its properties, the company has seemingly made it clear that it’s not interested in selling the entirety to an entrepreneur or entire business group, which is what has been suggested in the past for how Elon Musk could get involved.
If that weren’t enough, a report from The Street indicates that Disney sent a strong message to Musk with its support of competition against Musk’s Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg’s META recently launched a new social media platform, called Threads, which has served as an alternative to Twitter.
While Disney has remained a large advertiser on Twitter, the company recently opened its own account on Threads, essentially sending a warning message to Elon Musk that it could certainly move to the alternative if the platform got big enough. While Threads is still in its infancy, the new social media platform needs huge names to get off the ground, and Disney is choosing to be one of those.
“Disney has chosen to be one of those names, opening an account for its Disney Parks division,” the report shared. “That might or might not be a slap at Musk since despite its initial surge of users, Threads is still in its infancy.”
The relationship between Disney and Elon Musk has been murky for a while, but it does seem that this would indicate there will not be any kind of purchase from Musk in the future, though some may have suggested it. Instead, it would be more likely that the company will look elsewhere other than the Tesla Billionaire to be its strategic partner.
Inside the Magic will keep you updated on the latest developments happening with the company and much more.