Acquiring Signal?

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

I placed the following post in the Disney Business forum, but since no one seems to ever read it, I thought I'd put it out here as well ...

I found the following paragraph from Bob Iger's letter to shareholders VERY telling about what is going on behind the scenes and what that 'may' mean for the future.

It appears Bob's peeps put this qualifier in the letter to grease the wheels in case Disney were to acquire another company or its assets in 2009 ... now ... this could mean Disney is/was looking at an existing theme park or group of them ... another TV network or Studios ... a hotel group in Anaheim ... or anything really.

Here's what Fearless Leader had to say:

<<Given the environment, we will likely see some interesting acquisition opportunities, and given the strength of our balance sheet, many could be enticing. Rest assured, though, no matter how inexpensive these opportunities may look, we will not relax our standards in terms of the quality of the assets we seek to purchase, their fit within our Company's businesses and core strategies, or their prospects for delivering strong returns.>>

 

Originally Posted By dshyates

Well there is a strong rumor that DisCo. is looking at BEC. I would rather see Blackstone buy it, but Disney is good too. But I would hate for Disney to just take the SeaWorld Parks.

 

Originally Posted By pheneix

Disney can't afford BEC.

Bob Iger's statement about making acquisitions is more idle talk than foreshadowing of things to come. I could see them making plays at smaller companies in computer gaming or TV but they simply don't have the cash nor the ability to get financing to take on an earth shattering purchase.

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

the issue is really - almost no one does right now

 

Originally Posted By pheneix

Pretty much... The only theme park company with the financial backing to make such a purchase happen is Merlin Entertainment/Blackstone. I'm just about certain they will be owning BEC by the end of the year.

 

Originally Posted By bobbelee9

<<given the strength of our balance sheet>>

<< we will not relax our standards in terms of the quality >>

I'll leave it for others to comment on those statements.

 

Originally Posted By dshyates

Yeah, bobblee9. Don't we have a whole thread on them relaxing their standards in terms of quality?

"Relax", I really like that word.

 

Originally Posted By dshyates

Here is an article discussing the SeaWorld thing posted just 30mins ago. Spirit, I think you'll like the last sentence.

<a href="http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/01/20/disney-expands-to-shanghai-but-will-it-also-hook-shamu-it-will/" target="_blank">http://www.walletpop.com/blog/...it-will/</a>

 

Originally Posted By pheneix

Disney has about $3.8 billion of cash on hand as of the end of the 2008 fiscal year (it is rumored to have significantly less after bailing out HKDL late last year). There is no way they're going to spend all of it on BEC. Then again, Jay Rasulo has pissed away billions of the company's money on his pet projects so far, so who knows.

They could borrow the money, but their balance sheet is leveraged to the hilt on theme park debt with two foreign resorts that are still losing money. They would be crucified in the stock market for taking it a step further by acquiring BEC.

A Disney deal isn't happening.

 

Originally Posted By MPierce

<<Given the environment, we will likely see some interesting acquisition opportunities, and given the strength of our balance sheet, many could be enticing. Rest assured, though, no matter how inexpensive these opportunities may look, we will not relax our standards in terms of the quality of the assets we seek to purchase, their fit within our Company's businesses and core strategies, or their prospects for delivering strong returns.>>

I think he's looking to cop some weed!

 

Originally Posted By fkurucz

Spend? They can just do a stock swap.
How do you think HP acquired Compaq and more recently EDS? Cash?

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

I, personally, don't see Disney EVER buying a competitor in the parks business. I mean, take a look at all the trouble they're having turning parks like DCA, DSP and HKDL into genuine Disney parks ... and they built those!

From the link dshyates was kind enough to forward is the following:

<<There's a pretty good chance that Disney won't hook Shamu for its theme park empire. First of all, the company has never gobbled up other parks before, not even as passive partners. It's also hard to imagine SeaWorld's straightforward marine enclosures and Busch Gardens' raw coaster thrills being re-branded with Disney's highly stage-managed panache. Six Flags is a more likely contender, and it's also tipped to be a possible bidder, but the 20-park group isn't on the steadiest financial footing these days. Or maybe a few of Disney's competitors will get together to gang up on Walt & Co.>>

I just don't believe the note was placed in Bob's letter to mean Disney was buying parks ... I could see Disney gobbling up another Studio or even a gaming company (look at the fact Midway was sold recently for $100,000 albeit with upwards of $80 million in debt going along for the ride) ... but the bottom line is right now pheneix is quite on the money.

I don't believe that Disney has the money or ability to get the amount needed to pull off a buyout of BEC. Now, could they buy Sea World in San Diego as was first tossed out by the hermit Disney dude of New Hampshire as a stand alone? Anything's possible, but I find even that highly unlikely.

Disney's entire parks focus these days is on China ... and DCA.

That's pretty much it.

I believe the idea was put out more in case Disney did something on ANY acquisition front this year rather than because something was almost certain to happen.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

<<given the strength of our balance sheet>>

<< we will not relax our standards in terms of the quality >>

<<I'll leave it for others to comment on those statements.>>

Remember Molly Shannon's oddball standup comic character when she was on SNL?

Her big line was 'Don't get me started ... Don't even get me started.'

You don't want to get me started because I don't have an off switch and you aren't in a position to take me out drinking tonight!

 

Originally Posted By dshyates

Their are "internet rumors" that BEC. put this rumor out to drive up the bidding price.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

<<I don't believe that Disney has the money or ability to get the amount needed to pull off a buyout of BEC. Now, could they buy Sea World in San Diego as was first tossed out by the hermit Disney dude of New Hampshire as a stand alone? Anything's possible, but I find even that highly unlikely.>>

Just want to retrench a bit on the first part of that statement, after looking into the numbers, it is possible Disney could theorhetically buy BEC ... but it would be at an amount that really would be prohibitive in any sane business environment ... and again, that's not taking into account the fact Disney simply would be entering shark-filled waters (pun intended) by trying to rebrand existing parks with the Disney pixie dust. x

 

Originally Posted By -em

I really hope they don't buy out BEC- Competition *is* a good thing...

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

<Their are "internet rumors" that BEC. put this rumor out to drive up the bidding price.<

I'd buy that rumor --

and I agree with Spirit - even the empty heads in HQ can't believe people would accept a non Disney park-- look at the hooplaoverDCA and they built that. The parks would never live up as people would expect the perfect Disneyfication - and better parks than MK is today.

It would be really stupid

 

Originally Posted By david10225

I would argue that BG Williamsburg (Europe) could certainly be turned into a "Disney" quality park. It's seasonal operation is an big obstacle though.

 

Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad

>>>I would argue that BG Williamsburg (Europe) could certainly be turned into a "Disney" quality park. It's seasonal operation is an big obstacle though<<<

But a purchase of something like this would just cannibalize their own business. I can't see the value of purchasing parks which don't offer something unique. Disney would prefer these customers come to the world where they can isolate them and house them and extract alot more cash from them. Why acquire a park where guests come for a couple days when you can have them come to WDW for a week. I think something like a Seaworld purchase would make more sense b/c they could still house the guests at WDW and it offers something different from any of the Disney parks. (But I can't see this purchase ever happening) If this deal was to happen, I'm not sure it would need to be "Disneyfied". I would call it Disney's seaworld and allow the park to maintain it's identity and just make tweeks and changes over time rather than overhaul it. We love SeaWorld. It's already a great park.

 

Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad

>>>I really hope they don't buy out BEC- Competition *is* a good thing<<<

I agree -em. Having good parks located in the same area makes both parks operate at a higher level. BTW, love you 365 picture thread.