Disney Failed to Buy James Bond Franchise, Walked Away From Owning Twitter Hours Before the Deal Closed and Held Apple Merger Talks

By Zack Sharf

Zack Sharf

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Bob Iger, who stepped down from his second stint as Disney CEO in March, gave an exit interview to Financial Times in which he revealed that he tried to acquire the James Bond franchise for Disney amid a spending spree that included the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and “Star Wars.” Pixar was priority number one for Iger, and the studio “felt unstoppable” when it acquired Pixar in May 2006 for $7.4 billion.

“It was like the clouds lifted and the sun started to shine again,” Iger said. “We put together a list of acquisition targets. Marvel was one, ‘Star Wars’ was another, James Bond was one. We had a list and I figured let’s just tick them off and buy them all.”

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