Apple Rumored to Be Mulling Over Purchasing Sony Pictures

The bombshell rumor being murmured in Hollywoo is that Apple is out for some major acquisitions in the next few months, and among the possible companies they're looking at...

A24 Studio
Lionsgate
Viacom/CBS
Sony Pictures
MGM Studios
Netflix
and a potential gaming publisher

Even as a trillion-dollar company, Apple can't buy them all, but Sony Pictures -- with an estimated value of about $30M (less than half of Sony Corp.) -- would be a prize target. The rumor has some merit, because it's said that they have "delayed" the start of pre-production on the next Spiderman film.

Netflix' market cap is about $150B, but this could go down as they run out of investor money over the next couple of years.

Companies like Amazon and Apple have very real income coming in all the time from actual products and services; Netflix is a lot more nebulous, because they're scrambling to produce more original content as other studios yank the rights over the next few months and years.

I would not be surprised if Apple made a deal for Sony Pictures, and then sold off the right to Spiderman to Marvel provided Disney was willing to share in the Marvel streaming rights.



We live in strange times. There was an era where I thought it would be impossible for a computer/technology company to buy a movie studio, but after the Fox/Disney deal -- which essentially came about because of streaming rights -- I think anything is possible.

Apple has a 'big acquisition' up its sleeve, tech analyst Dan Ives says

Spider-Man Deal On Hold Because Of Apple Possibly Buying Sony

 

A24 is WAY too hip to be bought by Apple!

 

Wait, wait, wait.....
Now.. SONY is more than a film studio...
If they bought SONY....EVERYTHING SONY (from electronics to their music catalogue)....
well, THAT would be something!

 

what would be the benefit to the consumer if any?

 

CONSUMER?????
huh....?

 

: )

 

Even better than that—what I’ve always heard is, under the terms of the original deal when Marvel Comics were facing bankruptcy and selling off the film rights to all of their characters back in the late 90’s, if Sony Pictures were to get bought out by another company, the Spider-Man film rights would automatically revert back to Marvel (now Disney). Would be a great thing if this were to happen.

I will add that this site, Cosmic Book News, who’s peddling this story about Sony putting the next Spidey film on hold, is known for clickbait of dubious authenticity.

 

Sony Pictures is only worth $30m? Tim Cook probably has that much between his couch cushions.

I know nothing of studio valuations but that seems low to me. That said, it seems obvious to me that Apple really needs content beyond what they produce themselves.

 

I think he meant billion

 

I think the main beneficiary will be Apple, who wants Hollywood cred in order to compete with the major powers in terms of TV series and feature films.

 

thanks...

 

Sorry, that's a typo. Make that "Sony Pictures -- with an estimated value of about $30 billion dollars (less than half of Sony Corp.)," which is in fact less than half of the $70B that Sony Corp. is worth. Sony corporate does not break out the value of their individual divisions in their stock reports, but I think we can guess that Sony Pictures is worth less than half of (say) 20th Century-Fox, which sold for about $71 billion to Disney.

 

I think the benefit would be to Sony. That studio has been a lemon for them. Stick to Playstations. That's where the real money is.

 

They can’t, I believe in Japan there’s a law where foreign parties cannot own more than a certain low stake in Japanese companies nor can purchase them outright

 

Not the brightest move for a company that is trying to be the best in devices, streaming, news, TV, augmented reality, maps, voice recognition, apps, etc. to go out and buy one of the biggest movie studios while it's under investigation for antitrust violations by the DoJ and state AGs.

 

By the way, I think this is a long time coming - Apple’s been hoarding far more cash than is reasonable or expected of a company in their position for a long while, and it was a matter of time before they decided to go on a shopping spree. They’ve been preparing for exactly this sort of acquisition, and have more than enough resources to go through with it

 

So are all the films they make going to have rounded corners?

 

Indeed...: )

 

Sony has a pretty decent catalog of older films and TV shows including the Columbia, Tri-Star, MGM and United Artists back catalog.

 

I believe in photography it’s called a “vignette”

 

You ducking bet if they’re made Apple they will.

 

Not quite true. There were many years in the 1990s and early 2000s where Sony Pictures and Sony Pictures TV actually supported all of Sony Corporation, because the consumer electronics division was losing money and dragging the whole company down. I worked on a Sony TV commercial about 8 years ago and had a conversation with a Sony VP, who told me, "we're going nuts trying to compete against the Koreans" [meaning LG and Samsung]. He felt that consumers were shopping more for price than for quality, and that really hurt Sony's consumer electronics business.

Not true either. Just as Sony bought Columbia Pictures from Coca-Cola, they can sell it as a separate entity to anybody they want... but it won't be called Sony Pictures anymore. It'd be called "Columbia Pictures" and "Tri-Star Pictures," as well as "Columbia Pictures Television."

Sony Pictures has struggled because there are a lot of U.S. regulations that prevent foreign companies from owning American networks or TV stations. All the other major studios (Disney, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros.) all have major stakes in broadcasting and cable, but Sony has been prevented from that. If Apple took over, Apple could buy or start a new American TV network and/or own local TV stations. Though you can make a good argument that in the age of streaming, the day of broadcast networks and local TV stations is coming to an end.

I'm a big vignette fan.

 

It doesn’t really matter who owns the studios - they all end up using the same eight writers, six directors and ten actors (and twenty actors’ children). Oh and same four stories...

 

Except that as I showed above, this also comes up on the Yahoo Financial News page. CNBC flew this idea way back in January, but it seems to be gaining more traction now:

Apple needs to buy a production house like A24, Lionsgate, or Sony Pictures: Analyst

 

I'm wondering if by acquiring any of the studios it will also include their past movie and television catalogues, and could that possibly mean an even faster end to actual DVDs, and what will and will not be available for streaming, for the time being, at least.