Apple & Disney : What Could Have Been

If Steve Jobs' untimely death at the age of 56 hadn't occurred he would be running Disney right now and it would be a totally different company.

So says Bob Iger, current Disney CEO, in his new book, "The Ride of a Lifetime". Apple and Disney wound-up having a great relationship. Iger explains that he had a very close relationship with Steve Jobs. That relationship took some work on Iger's part as Jobs' relationship with Michael Eisner, Iger's predecessor as CEO of the Mouse-house was very dicey, at best, after Eisner ruined Disney's relationship with Jobs by destroying Pixar's partnership with Disney.

Iger rebuilt the Apple/Disney trust and in October 2005 both Jobs and Iger stood on stage to announce that five Disney shows - including two of the most popular TV shows, 'Desperate Housevives' and 'Lost', would now be available for download on iTunes.

Jobs and Iger became close friends

The relationship grew, and a few years later, Disney purchased Pixar from Apple for $7.4billion and Jobs took a seat on Disney's board of directors. That seat was passed on to Laurene Jobs, Steve's widow, upon his death.

I believe Disney would be a different entity if a merger between the two companies had taken place. Jobs would have been CEO, as Apple is a much richer company than Disney, and he would have taken the new Apple/Disney into the streaming content industry, perhaps even acquiring Netflix.

Disney would have been a piece of the much larger entity where innovation is paramount to continue prosperity - which is the Apple (Jobs) credo.

Jim Lavorato, President
Entertainment Equipment Corp.