Meadowlark Media CEO and co-founder John Skipper just offered up his candid thoughts on the future of ESPN, the company he led from 2012 to 2017.
Skipper spoke alongside former Miami Marlins President David Samson on “The Dan Le Batard Show” on August 4, claiming that he doesn’t envision that Walt Disney (DIS) -) will sell a majority stake of ESPN anytime soon.
“Walt Disney Company has a lot of debt, ESPN still generates a lot of cash, and I still believe that the entirety of ESPN will not be spun off and sold because I think it’s still a valuable asset,” Skipper said. “Selling a minority stake is just a tactic to increase your valuation and solve some of the problems you have right now.”
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Skipper’s reaction comes just weeks after Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company was looking for “strategic partners” for ESPN.
Samson also gave his thoughts on ESPN, saying that Iger’s statements made it seem like a “limited partnership” that would not give up control of the company. But Samson doesn’t believe ESPN can keep full control in the long term if it wants to make a deal.
“I don't see a deal anywhere where Walt Disney will be able to sell a limited partnership share to anybody for ESPN,” Samson said. “I do see a path to control deal where there is money that's put in pays down Disney debt that bolsters and buttresses their stock price.”
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Reports have stated that ESPN is looking at major tech companies as potential partners, and Skipper gave one in particular as his ideal partner if he were ESPN.
“Top of my list is Apple,” Skipper said. “[ESPN] may be taking a minority investor who will then take the rest of ESPN later. And if there’s somebody who can do that, it would be Apple … Why would Apple (AAPL) -) not want to be the leader in sports?”
There have also been reports that leagues like the NFL, NBA and MLB are also potential equity partners with ESPN, but Samson thinks the odds of that happening aren’t high considering the value of ESPN.
“I see [ESPN’s] value continuing to rise, but I don't see at the end of the day any of the sports leagues stepping up at a valuation number that Disney board would be comfortable in doing a deal,” Samson said. “But it will not stop them from kicking the tires.”
