Disney wanted to buy Twitter, but Bob Iger killed the deal over the site’s ‘extraordinary nastiness’

Disney CEO Bob Iger confirms his family-friendly company wanted to buy Twitter but he killed the deal because of the site’s ‘extraordinary nastiness’

  • Disney CEO Bob Iger recently told the New York Times about the last-minute moment he chose to kill his company’s acquisition of Twitter
  • Iger recalled looking at his own Twitter notifications before deciding the social media company’s ‘nastiness’ did not align with Disney’s image
  • ‘There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary,’ Iger said
  • The last-minute about-face reportedly stunned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey whose company laid off 350 employees at the end of 2016 

Disney CEO Bob Iger recently spoke about the last-minute moment he chose to kill his company’s acquisition of Twitter

Disney was one of several companies looking to buy Twitter in 2016, but right before a deal was signed roughly a year later, CEO Bob Iger had a sudden change of heart.

He recalled looking at his own Twitter notifications before deciding the constant personal attacks, celebrity feuds, racist trolling, and verbal assaults from everyone including President Donald Trump didn’t exactly align with the family-friendly image of the global corporation that created Mickey Mouse and ‘Toy Story’.

‘The troubles were greater than I wanted to take on, greater than I thought it was responsible for us to take on,’ Iger told the New York Times during an interview published Sunday, confirming details shared in Iger’s new book, which is set to hit store shelves Monday morning.

‘There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary,’ Iger continued. ‘I like looking at my Twitter newsfeed because I want to follow 15, 20 different subjects. Then you turn and look at your notifications and you’re immediately saying, “Why am I doing this? Why do I endure this pain?”‘ 

Disney CEO Bob Iger

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey

Iger recalled looking at his own Twitter notifications before deciding the social media company’s ‘nastiness’ did not align with Disney’s image. The last-minute about-face reportedly stunned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey

Iger said of the defunct Twitter acquisition: 'There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary'

Iger said of the defunct Twitter acquisition: ‘There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary’

Disney saw Twitter as a vehicle to evolve its distribution channels in the Information Age. The company's much-anticipated streaming service, Disney Plus, set to launch in November, is another means to help it compete against the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Twitter laid off 350 employees - nine percent of its workforce - and jettisoned the now-defunct video app Vine to cut its losses at the end of 2016

Disney saw Twitter as a vehicle to evolve its distribution channels in the Information Age. The company's much-anticipated streaming service, Disney Plus, set to launch in November, is another means to help it compete against the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Twitter laid off 350 employees - nine percent of its workforce - and jettisoned the now-defunct video app Vine to cut its losses at the end of 2016

Disney saw Twitter as a vehicle to evolve its distribution channels in the Information Age. The company’s much-anticipated streaming service, Disney Plus, set to launch in November, is another means to help it compete against the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Twitter laid off 350 employees – nine percent of its workforce – and jettisoned the now-defunct video app Vine to cut its losses at the end of 2016

The last-minute about-face reportedly stunned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey whose company had already laid off 350 employees – nine percent of its workforce – and jettisoned the now-defunct video app Vine to cut its losses towards the end of 2016.

The company rebounded by December of 2018 when it boasted a 20 percent shares gain over the course of the year, outperforming the once-glorified Snapchat and getting its stock added to the S&P 500, CNN Business reported.

Disney saw Twitter as a vehicle to evolve its distribution channels in the Information Age. The company’s much-anticipated streaming service, Disney Plus, set to launch in November, is another means to help it compete against the likes of Netflix and Amazon.

But Twitter ultimately wasn’t the right move for Disney, according to Iger. 

‘Like a lot of these platforms, they have the ability to do a lot of good in our world,’ he said. ‘They also have an ability to do a lot of bad. I didn’t want to take that on.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk