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Apple Considered Buying Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment, but Talks 'Fizzled Out' [Updated]
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Owning a 'content creation' company isn't the be- all-end all, and it is wise to move slowly. What you are buying is not always obvious - including debt and relations with talent. I would like to think Apple just hasn't seen a value proposition that makes sense yet. I've worked in entertainment and technology and the relationships aren't always the best. Lots of companies try and buy there way into Hollywood production - anyone remember who Sony bought Columbia from? Coca-Cola. There is a long record of buyers of media assets who have no idea what to do with them. Remember an entertainment company is no better than what it has in the pipeline. Talent relationships are fickle and change. IP's lose steam and value. I think it is lack of arrogance that keeps Apple out of this world.
Because Apple's track record of content creation is terrible. Apple desperately needs a new revenue stream outside of phones and Netflix could provide that. Netflix is solid at content creation and would require minimal oversight from Apple.
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I am asking about you.
Why would YOU - the consumer - want Apple, a company that struggled in the entertainment product field, to buy a company that is doing so well by producing great original content and providing a good, reasonably priced service?
Apple has a fiduciary obligation to provide returns for it's shareholder. Netflix provides a new revenue stream outside of Apples regular business but there would still be obvious and nearly immediate synergies between two tech companies.
I understand your "really dangerous to consumers" comment but this is a BUSINESS DECISION. If it violates any fair competition laws than it is the governments obligation to bring those concerns forward.
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I wouldn't. But I'm an investor and realize that it would be great for the bottom line.
Apple is being penny wise but pound foolish. they have the capital. it seems as every negotiation comes down to Apple not wanting to spend any more money then they think they should....and they usually undervalue everything they want to buy and then pout that it costs too much when they do not get their way....odd for a multi hundred billion dollar company.
First of all, in your initial post you said "I'd like to". So yes, you would.
As an investor you come out as a bit arrogant (not as a person). You believe that the company you invested in can't fail, and you haven't provided any commentary in any of your posts of the likelihood that buying Netflix might not work as the two cultures might crash and burn. You seem to think that if a company buys a smaller company things go smooth, while history (especially in the entertainment business) shows the opposite. In other words, yours is a wish.
Apple started offering TV shows in the iTMS in 2005. Jobs was heavily involved with Pixar starting in 1986. This is not a space Apple should be bumbling through with that type of background but they are. They had a head start with the iTMS and
TV, but now they are struggling against a changing marketplace, ubiquitous streaming technology (smart TVs, game consoles, Roku, Chrome, Amazon Fire, etc.,) and superior competition.Like Ping and Music, this is what Apple playing catch up looks like.
Daytime television too! All My Watchbands.
Apple buying netflix is one of the few things that would make me cancel my subscription. Apple, Comcast/NBC, or Verizon.
In a perfect world, apple would stop with this nonsense and start making "computers" again.
In a perfect world, apple would stop with this nonsense and start making "computers" again.
Nobody is going to have any empathy for you now that we see that your angle is essentially greed. My point still stands about assuming Apple should just buy out competitors as being arrogant and ignorant.
Netflix should stay as is and Apple should stay FAR away from cinema. They might know how to create devices with great GUI but that's basically it.
Apple, it's your responsibility to make the TOOLS that filmmakers use to make film/television content. Ex: the Mac Pro. Stop dabbling in other things! Just release the freaking new Mac Pro already so that we can continue to make movies!
Make Computers Great Again!
Pipe dream though, because Apple is doing the exact opposite (LOL @ charging $4,000 for a 4 year old Mac Pro still at it's original price).
As an investor I am fairly confident in this. I would recommend that they run independently for some time and share on the costs of content distribution and IT infrastructure. Netflix is too big for Apple to compete with at this point. Buying (hostile takeover) is the cheapest option for them.
Yes, companies can fail but Disney has been doing it for years - Pixar, Lucas Films, Marvel, THX, ABC, NBC, ESPN, etc. Apple should take a lesson from their playbook on this one.
Do you realize that Disney was quite successful at the business that Pixar, Lucas, Marvel, THX, ABC, NBC, ESPN do? They bought companies within their own business (or very similar), a business they understood and lived for a century?
What has apple done? The Planet of the Apps? Please. Buying Netflix will be a huge investment mistake which will also destroy a great company in the process.
ASk yourself why Jobs didn't make Apple buy Pixar.
please god no .. Netflix is doing great .. don't need apple to ruin them
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totally agree .. the guy is horrible
Aaaaah, a hostile takeover!!!
Yes, the one way to pretty much GUARANTEE exodus of all the key players & most valuable employees.
*slow clap*
You can't be serious.
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yeah... and replace Netflix's amazing management with Eddie Cue........
Companies are formed to protect and profit their investors before anything else. That's the way the world currently works.
Let's agree to disagree - I see this as a good business move
There are going to be people on both sides of the isle on this one. As a consumer I'm afraid of anyone disrupting what Netflix has created, as an investor, I believe there is money to be made from them sharing expenses and resources.[doublepost=1487267025][/doublepost]
Na, the board locks in all key players with package payouts that will only be distributed at certain milestones. Almost all large cap mergers are hostile take overs by definition.
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Most recently in the case of Ebay vs Newmark it was ruled that companies are legally required to maximize profits by any legal mean.
This is why the market averages 7-9% YOY. It's not always pretty but it keeps the economy turning.
Yeah, he's a prankster and a nut. But he's also incredibly good at what he does.
Apple copying Shark Tank, and copying Car Karaoke, is not confidence inspiring.
And they went and plunked down $2B to buy Beats. I thought that was pound foolish too. I still don't understand what they saw in Beats. Certainly can't be the the crappy sounding headphones. Would establishing Apple Music from scratch cost more than $2B? They must have thought so.