Considering the current Disney/Fox/Comcast corporate drama, I thought that this would be an interesting POD. In February of 2004, Comcast launched a bid to buy The Walt Disney Company. This was during the very nadir of Michael Eisner's tenure as Disney CEO and the second "Save Disney" campaign, and before Bob Iger's vaunted tenure in as CEO. From the linked article...
So, what if Comcast's offer had been accepted, and Disney had been acquired in the mid-2000s? At the time, Disney's biggest assets included its own film and animation studio, ABC, ESPN, and Miramax (Harvey Weinstein had yet to leave to form The Weinstein Company). The acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm were years away from taking place. On the other side of the equation, Comcast had yet to purchase NBCUniversal, so buying Disney would have been its first big move in the entertainment world ITTL.
How would the different companies have developed in such a scenario? What's the future for Disney - what sort of film projects might gain traction in such an environment? Who would be appointed to replace Eisner instead of Bob Iger? Though Brian Roberts' tenure as head of Comcast has seen nearly as much corporate expansion at Iger, how would Comcast/Disney have played the M&A game? What would be the ultimate fates of other companies mentioned here, like NBCUniversal, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm?
The proposed deal steps up the pressure on Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, who is facing a campaign by ex-directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold to oust him, and who recently lost a lucrative film distribution partnership with Pixar.
Comcast said Eisner has been unwilling to discuss a merger, so it sent a letter to Disney's board making its offer public. Disney said in a statement that it "will carefully evaluate" the offer and Eisner reiterated this during a conference call with analysts Wednesday afternoon.
So, what if Comcast's offer had been accepted, and Disney had been acquired in the mid-2000s? At the time, Disney's biggest assets included its own film and animation studio, ABC, ESPN, and Miramax (Harvey Weinstein had yet to leave to form The Weinstein Company). The acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm were years away from taking place. On the other side of the equation, Comcast had yet to purchase NBCUniversal, so buying Disney would have been its first big move in the entertainment world ITTL.
How would the different companies have developed in such a scenario? What's the future for Disney - what sort of film projects might gain traction in such an environment? Who would be appointed to replace Eisner instead of Bob Iger? Though Brian Roberts' tenure as head of Comcast has seen nearly as much corporate expansion at Iger, how would Comcast/Disney have played the M&A game? What would be the ultimate fates of other companies mentioned here, like NBCUniversal, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm?