The Case for Apple + Disney

It's that time of year again. Spend Apple's money, which they never spend, but boy it would be fun if they did, time. But this year does actually bring a new twist. A few of them, actually.

During their earnings call last week, CFO Kevan Parekh made an interesting disclosure that going forward, Apple would stop their long-standing policy of trying to be "net cash neutral". During Tim Cook's tenure, this policy led Apple to returning some $1T – yes, $1 trillion – in the form of both dividends and stock buybacks. Seemingly, Apple will continue to do some of that under new CEO John Ternus as well, but as the comment makes clear, there are no longer any promises. Many took this to mean that Apple might start ramping up some level of spend – perhaps even on CapEx, finally. But it could also mean they're looking to build up their cash reserves again. And an obvious reason to do that would be for an acquisition.

But of what? Well, HBO, sadly, now looks to be off the menu with Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros Discovery. It would have made sense – and clearly Netflix agreed! – but alas, it wasn't to be. Anthropic remains the most obvious need and potential fit and fix – if it were about 1/10th the current price. Ideally, 1/100th. Obviously, Apple won't be paying $1T+ to solve their AI woes, even if you could make somewhat of a case. So how about one of the oldest M&A ideas in the books – quite literally. Apple + Disney.

Come wish upon a star with me...