analysts got to the point early and often during a conference call late wednesday what are disney chief executive robert iger’s ma plans particularly following reports that former disney executives kevin mayer and tom staggs now coceos of blackstonebacked candle media have been retained in a “consulting capacity” to decide espn’s fate there is even the unthinkable unsinkable decadesold rumor floating about again could apple inc aapl acquire disney dis  as one hollywood executive floated to the hollywood reporter the prospect of an appledisney combo seems farfetched in a heated regulatory climate where the federal trade commission is attempting to crack down on big tech acquisitions but it could happen should disney sell off assets and apple gobbles up disney’s directtoconsumer business that includes streaming service disney some media analysts speculate apple could conceivably even buy abc which reportedly is on the block but the path is long and circuitous yet the rumors persist dating back to apple cofounder steve jobs’ reverence for the disney brand and the increasingly overlapping businesses of both companies over the years when pressed by analysts during a conference call late wednesday iger declined to discuss the future of disney’s structure or possible asset sales when asked specifically about apple iger testily said he would not “speculate” on the sale of disney to a technology company or anyone else given the current global stance of regulators the ftc has aggressively challenged mergers from the likes of microsoft corp msft and facebook parent meta platforms inc meta  with limited success since iger hinted at the potential sale of disney’s assets in an interview with cnbc last month rumors have swirled around espn espn and related properties likely could command at least onethird of disney’s current depressed market cap of about 150 billion say some media watchers though iger has denied espn is for sale he has acknowledged “the sports leader” is seeking “strategic partners” possibly with the nfl mlb nba and nhl to generate revenue late tuesday espn stuck up a deal with penn entertainment inc penn to create espn bet a digital sportsbook to launch in the fall in 16 states another possible property being dangled is abc but with rights to the nba finals and two super bowls in the next eight years it is unclear who would acquire the network and how disney would replace lucrative sports revenue other properties on the block include cable channels freeform and disney channel according to a report by the wall street journal “if an asset sale happens will the proceeds be deployed into fortifying its balance sheet or beefing up its remaining operations” rick munarriz senior media analyst at the motley fool said in an email disney which is in the midst of a 55 billion costcutting campaign is exploring several avenues to prop up sales as linear tv ads shrink disney subscriptions decline and attendance at walt disney world wanes shares of disney are trading at half their highs from a few years ago in large part because of dwindling sales and profits at espn and disney’s other cable networks enter mayer who previously ran disney’s strategic planning group for years and engineered a trifecta of mega deals the acquisition of the aforementioned pixar animation studios from steve jobs for 74 billion in 2006 the purchase of marvel entertainment for 4 billion in 2009 and the acquisition of lucasfilm for 405 billion in 2012 mayer also led the 713 billion acquisition of 20th century fox’s entertainment assets in 2019 which has drawn mixed reviews