ESPN cash flows funded Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox acquisitions — four years of ESPN profits bought $15.4B in IP
Disney used ESPN's predictable affiliate fee cash gusher (peaking at >50% of company operating income) to fund transformative IP acquisitions: Pixar ($7.4B), Marvel ($4B), Lucasfilm ($4B), Fox ($71.3B gross, ~$44B net). This Buffett-style capital allocation from a declining but cash-rich asset to compounding IP franchises defined the Iger era.
HIMS uses cash-heavy M&A to accelerate international expansion despite balance sheet leverage
HIMS deployed $1.15B (mostly cash over 18 months) for Eucalyptus less than a year after raising $971M in convertible notes and announcing a $250M buyback. This signals management prioritizes speed to international scale over balance sheet conservatism, accepting leverage risk to capture the aggregator opportunity before competitors.