The Deals That Got Away: Bob Iger Reveals Disney Chased James Bond, Twitter, and an Apple Merger

In a candid Financial Times exit interview surfaced by Variety, former Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that 007 sat on his acquisition wish list alongside Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, that he walked away from buying Twitter hours before closing, and that real merger conversations with Apple once took place. Fans are dissecting an alternate-universe Disney that nearly owned James Bond, the platform now called X, and possibly Apple itself.

In a candid exit interview, former Disney CEO Bob Iger pulled back the curtain on the blockbuster deals the company chased but never closed — revealing that James Bond once shared an acquisition wish list with Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, that he nearly bought Twitter only to get cold feet the morning of the deal, and that real merger conversations took place with Apple. The admissions paint a vivid picture of an alternate-universe Disney that never quite came to be.

The Acquisition Checklist: Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars — and One That Got Away

Iger, who stepped down from his second stint as Disney CEO in March and was succeeded by Josh D'Amaro, framed his transformative dealmaking era as something close to a shopping list. Speaking to the Financial Times, he described a moment when the strategy snapped into focus.

"It was like the clouds lifted and the sun started to shine again. 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."

The list reads like a roadmap of modern Disney's identity. Pixar was priority number one, and the studio "felt unstoppable" when Disney acquired it in May 2006 for $7.4 billion — a deal that mended the strained relationship between the animation house and the parent company and brought Pixar's creative leadership into Disney's fold. Marvel and Lucasfilm's Star Wars followed in the years after, deals that would go on to define more than a decade of box-office dominance, streaming strategy, and theme-park expansion. Three of the four names on Iger's checklist became cornerstones of the company. The fourth did not.

The One That Got Away: James Bond Slipped Through Disney's Fingers

For Disney fans, the most striking line on that checklist is the one that never got a checkmark. The James Bond franchise — one of the most enduring properties in cinema history — was a target Iger genuinely pursued, but it ultimately, in his words, "got away." The 007 catalog is now owned by Amazon, which acquired control of the franchise's creative direction and folded it into its own entertainment ambitions.

It is not hard to imagine why Bond appealed. A spy series with decades of films, instantly recognizable characters, gadgets, vehicles, and globe-trotting set pieces would have slotted neatly into Disney's playbook of franchise-driven films, immersive attractions, and merchandise. The fact that it landed with a rival rather than Disney is exactly the kind of alternate-history detail that gets fans talking.

The Deal He Walked Away From: Disney Almost Owned Twitter

Bond was not the only one that slipped past. Iger told the Financial Times that he came close to buying Twitter from then-owner Jack Dorsey "at a very attractive price." The strategic logic was ambitious: Disney would turn the social platform into a global distribution engine for its content, giving the company a direct pipeline to audiences worldwide.

Then he blinked. Iger admitted he got cold feet on the morning the deal was set to close, worried that owning a sprawling, controversy-prone social network would become "a horrible distraction" from Disney's core business. He walked away. The platform was later bought by Elon Musk, who rebranded it as X — a turn of events that makes Iger's last-minute hesitation look, in hindsight, like a fork in the road for both Disney and the wider tech landscape.

The Merger That Never Was: Inside the Apple Conversations

Perhaps the most tantalizing revelation involves Apple. Iger first hinted at a possible Disney–Apple combination in his 2019 memoir, suggesting the two companies might have merged — or at least seriously discussed it — had Apple co-founder Steve Jobs still been alive. Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder following the Pixar acquisition and sat on its board until his death in 2011.

Now Iger has gone further, confirming that the idea moved beyond speculation. He revealed that "some conversations" actually took place between Apple and Disney about a merger he believes would have been "truly transformational and equal."

"We talked about it internally, and we had some conversations with Apple about it, but it never went anywhere. Apple didn't show that much interest."

A combined Apple and Disney would have been one of the most consequential corporate unions in modern history — pairing the world's most valuable hardware and services company with the entertainment giant behind Mickey Mouse, Marvel, and Star Wars. Instead, the talks fizzled, leaving it as one more "what if" in Iger's reflective accounting of his tenure.

Iger's Next Chapter

The exit interview also touched on what comes after Disney. Following his March departure and the handover to Josh D'Amaro, Iger has taken on a role as an adviser to the New York–based venture-capital firm Thrive Capital, founded in 2009 by Josh Kushner. Iger had previously joined the firm as a venture partner in September 2022, deepening a connection to the world of startup investing that now sits at the center of his post-Disney life.

Why Fans Are Buzzing

What makes these revelations resonate is how easily they invite fans to imagine a different Disney. A version of the company that owned James Bond would have controlled one of the last great independent film franchises. A Disney that closed the Twitter deal might have reshaped how the company distributes content — and how the platform now called X evolved. And a Disney–Apple merger would have rewritten the map of both Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Iger built his legacy on the deals he won, but in stepping away, he has given fans an irresistible glimpse of the ones he didn't — a checklist with a few boxes that, for better or worse, were left unticked.