Bob Iger's exit interview frames his Disney tenure as a masterclass in bold ambition. Yes, some deals didn't happen — but the ones that did (Pixar for $7.4 billion, Marvel, Star Wars) reshaped entertainment forever. The message: swing big, and even the swings you miss prove you're playing at the right level.
Sources close to Iger say he privately agonized over the Twitter deal for weeks before backing out on the morning of closing — a decision that still haunts him. Meanwhile, Apple never took Disney's merger overtures seriously enough to even engage in substantive talks. The real story: Iger wanted to be Tim Cook's partner, not Josh D'Amaro's predecessor.
Iger acquired Pixar in May 2006 for $7.4 billion — a deal he called priority number one that made Disney 'feel unstoppable.' He backed away from buying Twitter on the morning of closing, telling FT it would be 'a horrible distraction.' James Bond is now owned by Amazon.
Bob Iger may have stepped down as Disney CEO, but his exit interview proves he's still Hollywood's most consequential dealmaker — even when those deals don't close. The question isn't what he bought; it's what he almost owned.
Bob Iger just dropped more bombshells in his Financial Times exit interview than most executives manage in an entire career. The former Disney CEO, who officially stepped down from his second stint at the helm in March and was succeeded by Josh D'Amaro, used the high-profile sit-down to reveal a treasure trove of deals that never happened — including some that were tantalizingly close. The biggest revelation?
Iger tried desperately to acquire the James Bond franchise during Disney's legendary acquisition spree that also netted Pixar, Marvel, and "Star Wars." According to Iger, he put together an actual list of targets and figured they'd just "tick them off" and buy them all. "We had a list and I figured let's just tick them off and buy them all," he told FT. But James Bond slipped through Disney's fingers — Amazon ended up as its current owner.
The franchise that got away. Perhaps more striking was the Twitter near-miss. Iger revealed he was "close to buying Twitter from owner Jack Dorsey at a very attractive price" with plans to transform it into a global distribution platform for Disney.
But then came the morning of the deal — and cold feet. "I got worried that it would be a horrible distraction," Iger admitted, walking away just hours before closing. Elon Musk eventually purchased the platform and rebranded it as X.
The Apple merger discussions represent perhaps the most intriguing almost-what-if in Iger's disclosure. He previously revealed in his 2019 memoir that he believed Disney and Apple would have "at least discussed the possibility of merging very seriously" if Steve Jobs were still alive. Now he's confirmed those conversations actually happened — just without Apple's enthusiasm.
"We talked about it internally, and we had some conversations with Apple about it, but it never went anywhere," Iger said. "Apple didn't show that much interest." Since leaving Disney's corner office, Iger has already pivoted to a new chapter as an adviser to venture-capital firm Thrive Capital — the New York-based company founded in 2009 by Josh Kushner, brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. It turns out even entertainment legends need a landing pad after walking away from some of the biggest deals that never were.
