From Hollywood to Wall Street, all eyes in the media and entertainment industry will be trained on Disney Wednesday as it announces its latest quarterly earnings. And question No. 1 from analysts to CEO Bob Iger should be his thinking about M&A.
Those questions should take on more urgency now that Iger has retained former top lieutenants Kevin Mayer and partner Tom Staggs — currently running Candle Media as co-CEOs — in a “consulting capacity” to help decide ESPN’s fate. This intriguing development followed Iger’s recent uncharacteristically frank and gloomy comments that pointed to the notion of Disney shedding some of the assets it built up under his first run as CEO.