Is Elon Musk Planning to Buy Disney?
Alex Gherzo | Aug 8, 2024 |
Elon Musk’s attempt to defeat wokeness may not stop with the platform formerly known as Twitter. The Tesla CEO who bought the social media company, renamed it X, and rebranded it as the place to go for free speech, has had some tussles with Disney in the past, most memorably when he brought up various companies trying to pressure him into censoring speech they disagree with on X by withholding advertising money and making it clear he was talking directly to Bob Iger when he said, “Go fuck yourself.”
Elon Musk has a message for all the corporations pulling ad money from X:
“Go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” pic.twitter.com/9gStlAbjFn
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 29, 2023
This week, Musk took on these tactics in court when he filed an antitrust lawsuit against The World Federation of Advertisers, a group representing 90% of the world’s advertisers. Specifically, Musk is suing over GARM, which stands for the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a project through which the WFA decides where advertising dollars go. I won’t keep you in suspense: they’re woker than a college campus drum circle watching a DEI training video, and it’s a safe bet they don’t like Musk allowing people they disagree with to post on X. Two days after the lawsuit was filed, GARM was disbanded; seriously, they just dropped their big woke advertising push, proving the conventional wisdom about dealing with bullies correct.
Why is this important? Among the members of the WFA are AB InBev, owners of Anheuser-Busch (makers of the beer-drinking pariah Bud Light), EA, IBM, Microsoft, and… The Walt Disney Company. Disney was part of an intimidation campaign to force other companies to go woke or lose advertising dollars, and Elon Musk put a stop to it. That doesn’t mean they won’t eventually try again, but for now, this plan is scuttled, particularly as what will assuredly be a costly lawsuit goes on. Meanwhile, Disney’s stock has plunged to $85.96 per share – keep in mind that $90 a share was considered a disaster. Recall also that when Ike Perlmutter sold his Disney shares earlier this year, he said he would buy them back if they fell as low as $65 or $75 per share, growing his stake in the company if he buys the same amount. Also recall this:
Dropping bombs like… pic.twitter.com/qdcBCq7kQ0
— Scott (@ScottPolhamus) February 4, 2024
That’s Nelson Peltz in the background, the guy who fought a proxy war with Bob Iger for control of Disney, whom Musk supported. He even said he’d buy Disney stock if Nelson Peltz took over. Peltz and Perlmutter were allied in the proxy war, which Iger won. At the time, many were speculating that maybe Musk and Peltz were planning to try to take over Disney. And we know that Musk is striking at Disney by funding Gina Carano’s lawsuit against them and Lucasfilm over wrongful termination, a legal situation that, despite Disney’s best efforts, will go forward and is a long way from over – the proposed start date is September 29, 2025, over a year away. Today, The Shawn Ryan Show released a preview of an interview with Gina Carano in which Ryan suggests Musk is planning to buy Disney and asks Carano if she thinks that may be true. Carano’s full response is still a mystery, as this is just a heavily edited preview of an interview that isn’t up yet, but she does note how big a dive Disney’s stock has taken.
It was WDW Pro who connected the dots on this one, surmising that Elon Musk may be planning a hostile takeover of Disney:
At first glance, I thought this was a lot of stretching and guessing mixed with wishful thinking, but it does appear that Musk is going after Disney on several fronts. More than that, I think he’s fighting, as Pro suggests, the “woke mind virus,” to use Musk’s preferred phrasing, which he feels is detrimental to culture and society. Twitter was the first battle, which Musk likened to securing the town square and freeing it from censorship, and Musk won that fight. Maybe Disney is next; it’s a huge brand and a classic piece of American culture that has been hijacked by activists who are clearly targeting kids. As to whether this would be a good thing… yes and no. I think it’s definitely the better alternative, especially if Musk does for Disney what he did for Twitter and guts the place of its woke true believers and reforms it into the entertainment version of X. But I don’t like the idea of one guy controlling too much of American industry and culture, even if it’s someone with good intentions like Elon Musk. Maybe this is a necessary evil, something to purge the woke mind virus from America’s cultural cornerstones. Sometimes, things get so bad that you have to act and think about the long term later. Nobody can say we don’t live in interesting times.
BREAKING: Elon Musk vows to destroy the woke mind virus after it took his son Xavier, who became transgender. Heartbreaking, you can see the pain in Elon’s eyes.
— Clown World ™ (@ClownWorld_) July 22, 2024
Do you think Elon Musk is planning to damage and then buy Disney, and if so, is it a good thing? Let us know in the comments!
Comments (2)
I don’t think he’d want to buy it, or buy a large part of it, if he couldn’t change it for the better and restore what it once was. Thinking about this, I wouldn’t be surprised if he facilitates Peltz, Perlmutter, and some others taking over, with himself as a sort of silent partner. That may be the best idea of all: make sure it’s in capable hands and then back out and move on to the next thing, perhaps making some money off of Iger and his crew along the way.
We don’t know until he does it, but what we do know is that Marvel, Disney and Star Wars all had a spark that was ruined by Iger, Kennedy, Filoni and co.
If Musk buys it, it will be interesting if Peltz and Iger buy back in. Maybe pick up Avi Arad. Find the real talented that know how to capture the soul of the brands.
Disney used to be so wholesome for young people. Wholesomeness itself, in my experience, is no longer allowed in America. It’s mocked and beaten out of people. Who cares about the youth and their development like Walt did? It’s a huge responsibility.
Marvel, get back maybe Perlmutter and Arad. Russo, Whedon.
Star Wars, who catches your imagination? Karpyshyn, Zahn, and perhaps, a few other writers or game designers.
Can Elon make these decisions if he bought them out? I am not into EV that much. Also, I am not on X, but like Musk a lot. To me, the brand was destroyed.