WSJ: Disney Should Buy EA

Hmmm, interesting... EA's plummeting value makes it a perfect acquisition target for the entertainment industry kingpin, Walt Disney. That was the advice publicly handed to Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger from the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. In a particularly daring edition of the publication's Heard on the Street column, the WSJ suggests that there's hardly going to be a better time to acquire the world's second-largest videogame publisher. The suggestions were made in light of EA's demoralising quarterly financial results that were quickly followed by the announcement of a 6 percent cut in global workforce. The publisher's shares sunk accordingly. The company is now worth approximately $7b, says the column, nearly a third of the $19b value it had a few years ago. ''Disney would be gutsy to step up during the current economic uncertainty. But it might be better than waiting for better times and paying top dollar,'' read the article. ''Disney could afford it. At June 30, its net debt was $11 billion, roughly 1.2 times Pali Research's estimate of 2008 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Also, Disney's stock has massively outperformed EA's this year. At a 40% premium, EA would cost $7.7 billion excluding the cash.'' In some ways an acquisition by Disney makes sense for itself. EA's biggest asset today is its sports division, which could work well with the Disney-owned ESPN cable network. The Column argues that Disney also could save some part of the $200m it spends annually for game development at Disney Interactive Studios. While the advice is certainly food for thought, it was not intended as a prediction of future events. In fact it's highly unlikely, as the company would have to borrow gargantuan sums of money to push the deal at a time when lending money has become exceptionally tricky.WSJ: Disney Should Buy EA
You know just based on the ESPN and Madden synergy I'd say this would be a really good move for Disney. And for good or bad I could see a Sims based ride somewhere in one of the Disney theme parks. However I could potentially see a host of problems like conflicts of interest with the licensed based games that EA has (ie the Harry Potter games) as well as some of the more violent games that EA publishes like the Medal of Honor games. Those wouldn't fit in particlarly well with the Disney philosophy you know.WSJ: Disney Should Buy EA
It's not going to happen.
Just No