Could Apple buy a majority stake of ESPN? Bookies go 1/2 that we see a takeover happen in the next 12 months!

Apple are odds-on to purchase majority stake in ESPN at some point before end of 2024

American cable sports channel ESPN could well be up for grabs in the near future with Apple the favourites to buy a majority stake in the company according to latest betting odds.

The Walt Disney Company currently owns an 80% majority stake in the company after purchasing ESPN's parent company way back in 1996.

Recent reports from Business Insider say that Disney CEO Bob Iger is looking for distribution partners to help ESPN go direct to the consumer.

Now Apple are 1/2 to purchase a majority stake in ESPN with Iger potentially looking to strip down Disney and ESPN would be one of the parts that would be most attractive to sell.

To buy a majority stake of ESPN in 2023 or 2024	Odds	Probability
Apple	1/2	66.7%
Amazon	2/1	33.3%
Blackstone	8/1	11.1%
KKR	12/1	7.7%
Apollo	12/1	7.7%

Amazon are also short in the market with giant company dipping toes in Sports streaming

Amazon are the second favourites in the betting market at 2/1 with the tech giants recently in discussions with ESPN to be a strategic partner.

Recent reports from The Information back in August this year say that Amazon had been in early talks with Disney around working on the streaming version of ESPN.

Part of this report says that Amazon could also take a minority stake in ESPN but OLBG imagines if talks go even better than thought then it could be that a majority sale happens.

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Who currently owns ESPN?

ESPN are currently owned by by The Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Communications (20%).

The company is a basic cable sports channel and it's perplexing how in 2023 there has yet been a move to streaming but this is what Disney are currently working on.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has said in recent months that the company are looking for a 2025 or 2026 date for ESPN to be a streaming service as well as cable.

Approximately 76 million households in the US currently have access to ESPN through cable and it'll be interesting to see if that number soars with streaming added.