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Every week, Benzinga conducts an opinion poll to find out what traders like, interest or take into account when managing and building their personal portfolios.
This week’s survey posed the following question for more than 500 traders and investors about whether Walt Disney Co (NYSE ๐ should acquire a popular streaming service:
During this year, should Disney acquire Roku or Spotify?
- Of the Year Inc. (NASDAQ: YEAR)
- Spotify Technology SA (NYSE: NYSE ๐
- Both of them
- None
Disney owns the rights to some of the most internationally recognized characters, and makes animated films and live-action adaptations at studios such as Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. The company also operates media networks that include ESPN and several television production studios.
Recently, it announced that its TV and movie streaming service Disney + has reached 86.8 million subscribers.
The Disney + mobile app also saw an increase of 2.3 million global installs over the Christmas holidays, as reported by Sensor Tower, a market research firm.
Disney’s market capitalization was over $ 300 billion the last time it was reviewed. As for the market capitalization of Roku and Spotify, it is measured at 49,000 and 59,000 million dollars, respectively.
Given this, 28% of those surveyed told us that Disney should acquire Roku by the end of this year. The latter is becoming a household name and is replacing home decoders, so acquiring this company would immediately strengthen Disney’s market share in streaming, as mentioned by respondents.
Roku has focused on the TV and film segment for its streaming services, while Spotify relies primarily on music and podcasts. Considering that the content that Disney produces is predominantly focused on the realm of television and film, respondents believe that it would better fit its standards if it moved forward with the acquisition of Roku.
Next, 19% of respondents believe Disney should complete an M&A deal with Spotify by the end of the year. Spotify would provide music streaming services to Disney, positioning the company to compete with others such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ: NASDAQ ๐ and Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: NASDAQ :).
Apart from Apple, Spotify is the undisputed leader in the audio segment, where Disney has not made inroads. A Spotify merger and acquisition would immediately put Disney on the map of the music streaming industry.
Meanwhile, 21% of traders and investors told us that Disney should instead merge and acquire both companies, Roku and Spotify.
31% of survey respondents think Disney would be better off if it didn’t make progress on M&A this year with any of the companies mentioned. Among this group, many have stated that they do not want more large and successful media companies under one roof.
With ABC, ESPN, and Marvel all owned by Disney, there has been concern on the part of traders and investors that Disney was already moving toward monopoly status in the media industry and would be better served by polishing and perfecting its current family of brands and services.
Read the article also in Benzinga Spain
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