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Could Apple be the “Strategic Partner” of Iger’s Dreams?

Apple has rarely shelled out meaningful capital in M&A, often deciding to build competing products within its rounded walls. But its interests in streaming, and sports, might make ESPN an alluring target—no matter how far-fetched the notion might have once seemed.

Bob Iger and Tim Cook at the Allen & Co conference in 2016.
Bob Iger and Tim Cook at the Allen & Co conference in 2016. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
August 18, 2023

Five years ago, at SXSW, I asked Eddy Cue, the seemingly perennially buoyant Apple services S.V.P. and Tim Cook sidekick, whether his company would ever acquire Netflix or The Walt Disney Company. It’s the kind of question that Cook and Cue receive not infrequently from reporters and analysts and the occasional shareholder. When you oversee the entertainment assets for a ~$3 trillion tech giant, especially one with big ambitions in the streaming space, it is often assumed that you’ll eventually just buy your way into market dominance.