Will Apple buy Disney?

Speculation has swirled for years about Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) potentially acquiring Disney, but such a deal is unlikely to happen. While Apple has enough cash to buy Disney, the tech giant rarely makes acquisitions, and the rationale for acquiring Disney isn't clear, especially since Disney is in the middle of transitioning from television to streaming. Presumably, the argument is that Disney would make Apple an entertainment powerhouse, but that's outside of Apple's core competency, which revolves around consumer tech devices like the iPhone. Getting into entertainment doesn't seem to offer much of a strategic benefit. Although Apple has its own streaming service, it functions more as a supplement to its core business or an additional incentive to buy its devices, rather than a core offering. Given that, acquiring Disney would do little to help Apple's principal business selling devices and the services that go with them.

DC Comics, the home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and other comic book heroes, may seem like a logical acquisition for Disney. The company has proven itself as a master at leveraging comic book material into movies through the success of the Marvel Comics Universe (MCU). Like a sale to Apple, such a deal has long been the subject of scuttlebutt, but there haven't been any serious indications that Disney would make such a move. Doing so might be redundant since Disney already has significant comic book property, and there's also no indication that Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) is interested in selling the DC franchise. Additionally, there are some signs of fatigue for comic book movies; recent MCU releases have performed poorly at the box office. If Disney decides to take out its checkbook again, DC Comics is a possible target, but given Disney's debt burden and current strategic focus on monetizing its existing intellectual property, such a deal doesn't seem likely in the near term.

Will Disney buy Sony?

As with DC Comics, plenty of industry observers have also posited that Disney could take over Sony Group (NYSE:SONY), which owns the rights to Marvel's best-known character, Spider-Man. However, buying a $120 billion company for one comic book character doesn't make sense. Sony also owns production studios, including Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, as well as the PlayStation video game ecosystem, but Sony's current market cap still far exceeds what Disney paid for Fox. If Disney had not acquired Fox, a deal for Sony might have made sense, but the current price for Sony makes it unjustifiable, and Disney doesn't have the same content needs that it did before the Fox deal. In 2021, Disney made a deal with Sony to bring some Spider-Man movies and other titles to its streaming services, which also would seem to obviate the need for an all-out acquisition of Sony.

How many brands does Disney own?

Disney owns dozens of brands, including movie studios like Pixar and Lucasfilm, the ESPN sports entertainment ecosystem, and the original characters that started the company included Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Its intellectual property assets are vast.

Disney does not own HBO. HBO is owned by Warner Bros. and is a competitor to Disney cable channels and streaming services like Hulu and Disney+.

What Companies Does Disney Own?

What Does Disney Own?

By Jeremy Bowman – Updated Jan 9, 2026 at 11:13 AM EST | Fact-checked by Parker Hicks

Key Points

Disney owns major brands like ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox, enhancing its content range.
Acquisitions like Pixar and Marvel provide Disney with extensive IP, aiding in content creation for movies and parks.
Recent 100% acquisition of Hulu and FuboTV merger increases Disney’s influence in streaming services.

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A graphic showing logos of the companies that Disney has complete or partial ownership over and the percentage that it owns. — Image source: The Motley Fool.

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Since the 1990s, Disney has grown through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Historically, the company has justified those acquisitions by arguing that they will expand its distribution reach or its content library. Today, it has an arguably unmatched trove of intellectual property from both the Disney brand and the other companies it's acquired.

Current CEO Bob Iger has been the force behind many of Disney's acquisitions and has earned a reputation as a top Hollywood dealmaker. Let's take a look at some of the acquisitions he's done and earlier ones, as well.

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2. ESPN (1996): 80% ownership

Disney also acquired ESPN in the Capital Cities/ABC deal, or an 80% stake in the sports entertainment giant. Hearst still owns the other 20%.

At the time of the deal, then-CEO Michael Eisner argued that the deal gave Disney control of the two premier family entertainment brands, Disney and ESPN.

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3. Winnie the Pooh (2001): 100% ownership

Disney had originally acquired the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters but had been paying royalties. The 2001 deal gave it the rights to the intellectual property for a lump sum payment of $350 million.

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4. The Muppets (2004): 100% ownership

Disney had pursued The Muppets, a popular children's entertainment collection, for 14 years and finally acquired it in 2004 from the Jim Henson Company for $75 million. It also acquired the Bear in the Big Blue House property from the Henson Company at the same time.

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5. Pixar (2006): 100% ownership

The Pixar acquisition was the first major deal under Iger, who led the $7.4 billion deal to gain control of the highly respected animation studio. The move also gave Disney a new pool of creative and technical talent to tap for both Pixar movies and Disney's own animated content.

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7. Lucasfilm (2012): 100% ownership

Lucasfilm is best known as the parent of Star Wars and related intellectual property. Disney acquired the business from George Lucas for $4.05 billion in 2012. As with Marvel, the company has leveraged those assets into several new movies and streaming TV series. Although the reviews have been mixed, the box office tally shows that the deal has been a successful one for Disney.

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8. BAMTech (2015): 100% ownership

Disney acquired the streaming tech platform in stages since the company was owned in a joint venture between Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. Disney started acquiring it in 2015, but didn't own the entire platform until 2022. The technology has been crucial in the development of Disney's own streaming services, including Disney+.

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9. Fox Entertainment Assets (2018): 100% ownership

Disney's biggest acquisition to date is its 2018 deal to acquire Fox's entertainment assets for $52.4 billion, or $71.3 billion, including the assumption of debt. The deal included several cable channels, such as FX and National Geographic, as well as the 20th Century Studio and other Fox-owned studios, such as Searchlight. It also gave Disney a large quantity of new content to leverage in its streaming services like The Simpsons and Avatar, which it intends to use to make a Star Wars-like string of sequels.

The deal gave Disney another chunk of Hulu. Since buying Fox, some have speculated that Disney overpaid for the deal since it's only recently started making money on streaming, and Disney stock has struggled since the move.

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10. Hulu (2019): 100% ownership

The Hulu streaming service began as a joint venture between Disney, Comcast (CMCSA -1.34%), and Fox Corp. (FOX -1.87%), each owning a third. In 2016, Time Warner acquired 10% of the company, leaving Disney with 30%. In the Fox deal, Disney gained Fox's 30% share, and WarnerMedia, then owned by AT&T (T -0.39%), sold its stake back to Hulu, leaving Disney with 67%.

Disney agreed to buy Comcast's stake for roughly $9 billion in November 2023 and now has 100% ownership of the streaming service.

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Fubo 2025: 70% ownership

Disney announced a deal with FuboTV (FUBO -2.82%), the struggling sports streaming in January 2025.

The merger has finally closed as of October 2025, but according to the terms, Disney will merge its Hulu+Live TV service with Fubo. Disney takes a 70% share of the new company, while Fubo will have the remaining 30% ownership.

Both brands will continue to operate as standalone services, and the deal also resolves prior litigation between the two companies. The new company will be led by the existing Fubo management team.

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What Does Disney Own: FAQs

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About the Author

Jeremy Bowman has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst, covering technology, consumer goods, and macroeconomic trends since 2011. Before The Motley Fool, Jeremy was a newspaper reporter, restaurant manager, and English teacher abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and a master’s degree in business administration from American University. One of his Motley Fool headlines was briefly featured on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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Jeremy Bowman has positions in Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Walt Disney and fuboTV. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast and Hasbro. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

What Does Disney Own?