Anonymous executives make bold predictions for 2026: CNBC's Alex Sherman
December 18, 2025 • 3m 39s
? (?)
00:00.270
as
twenty
twenty
forty
five
comes
to
a
close
NBC
's
alex
sherman
spoke
with
sixteen
top
executives
across
media
sports
and
entertainment
who
made
some
pretty
bold
industry
predictions
for
twenty
twenty
six
joining
us
right
now
with
some
of
those
calls
is
alex
sherman
CNBC
's
? (?)
00:14.510
media
and
sports
reporter
i
always
love
when
you
do
this
so
what
would
you
say
is
the
most
provocative
outrageous
over
the
top
thing
that
could
actually
come
true
yes
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
00:26.910
so
look
these
people
that
i
speak
to
these
are
top
of
the
food
chain
executives
so
it's
always
interesting
to
me
to
hear
what
they
say
anonymously
what
they
would
never
say
publicly
i
would
say
the
one
that
comes
to
mind
is
apple
buying
our
parent
company
for
two
more
weeks
NBC
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
00:46.430
universal
the
the
apple
buys
disney
thing
has
been
out
there
for
many
years
i
feel
like
that
has
been
a
prediction
in
the
past
is
the
fifth
year
that
i'm
doing
this
maybe
i
don't
know
two
or
three
of
those
years
apple
buys
disney
that
one
has
fallen
off
for
whatever
reason
and
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
01:02.750
it
has
been
replaced
by
NBC
universal
i
think
because
the
current
thinking
is
that
it's
clear
brian
roberts
was
in
the
market
to
do
something
with
warner
brothers
discovery
that
looks
like
it's
not
going
to
happen
netflix
and
paramount
's
bidding
war
for
warner
brothers
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
01:17.040
discovery
has
set
a
new
multiple
potentially
for
traditional
media
assets
and
maybe
now
would
be
the
time
if
brian
roberts
decided
you
know
there's
just
not
really
a
deal
out
there
for
me
where
i
can
control
the
asset
maybe
it's
time
for
me
to
take
advantage
of
the
heightened
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
01:33.750
multiple
and
actually
all
right
at
the
apple
would
? (?)
01:36.030
would
apple
yeah
would
apple
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
01:37.630
want
it
well
look
i
think
this
executive
told
me
that
apple
wants
in
to
the
TV
industry
he's
a
well
plugged
in
executive
apple
hasn't
really
said
we're
looking
for
bulking
up
in
terms
of
an
acquisition
they've
always
been
similar
to
netflix
a
builder
not
a
buyer
it
is
that
thing
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
02:01.470
where
you
know
the
the
largest
traditional
acquisition
to
date
i
think
is
still
the
beats
acquisition
for
apple
which
was
three
billion
dollars
for
a
multi
trillion
dollar
company
so
these
answers
however
are
always
no
no
no
until
they're
yes
just
like
netflix
finally
did
a
deal
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
02:16.350
maybe
it's
apples
turn
maybe
look
strategically
if
apple
wants
to
be
in
the
TV
business
it
would
behoove
them
to
gain
a
lot
of
assets
particularly
they've
shown
an
interest
in
sports
apple
has
had
trouble
advancing
in
this
industry
because
their
streaming
service
is
sort
of
the
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
02:34.070
low
man
on
the
totem
pole
and
whenever
you
have
a
prized
media
asset
you
always
want
to
go
to
who's
gonna
give
me
the
biggest
reach
who's
gonna
give
me
the
most
viewers
and
apple
has
the
least
amount
of
viewers
right
now
that's
not
the
apple
way
so
maybe
they
take
the
leap
and
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
02:49.630
they
actually
buy
a
bigger
library
of
programming
and
a
lot
of
sports
rights
by
the
? (?)
02:53.630
way
comcast
was
the
biggest
gainer
in
the
SP
five
hundred
i
think
two
days
ago
it
was
up
by
five
point
eight
percent
or
something
what
what
happened
what
was
that
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
03:01.630
well
i
think
there's
probably
several
different
things
going
on
one
may
be
this
multiple
leap
that
i'm
talking
about
of
NBC
where
suddenly
the
media
assets
within
comcast
are
now
valued
at
a
higher
level
it's
also
possible
that
investors
are
like
thank
god
you're
not
in
a
giant
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
03:17.750
bidding
war
with
paramount
and
netflix
over
the
warner
brothers
discovery
assets
the
interesting
thing
there
though
is
i
do
attribute
that
leap
probably
to
the
media
side
of
the
business
where
comcast
has
long
traded
actually
on
the
broadband
internet
side
the
business
maybe
we
Alex Sherman (media and sports reporter)
03:31.870
will
see
a
flip
a
little
bit
in
twenty
twenty
six
where
the
media
assets
are
actually
valued
high
enough
that
it
actually
affects
the
stock
price
positively
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