Apple should end deal drought by buying ESPN from Walt Disney, says analyst

Apple Inc. is famous for avoiding high-profile acquisitions, but it should make an exception for Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN as it looks to build out the sports offerings on its streaming-video service, according to Wedbush.

An acquisition or strategic partnership with the sports channel would be “a no brainer,” wrote analyst Dan Ives. He said that buying ESPN would probably cost more than $50 billion, but would “make a ton of strategic sense” by giving Apple valuable sports content, major TV rights, and “change the cross-sell opportunities and attractiveness of Apple TV looking ahead.”