Disney CEO Bob Chapek says ESPN will never take bets

Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek said Thursday that the company's sports web ESPN is looking for a spouse to assistance it measurement into sports gambling.

"We astatine ESPN person the quality to bash that. Now we're going to request a spouse to bash that, due to the fact that we're ne'er going to beryllium a book, that's ne'er successful the cards for the Walt Disney Company," Chapek told CNBC's David Faber said successful an exclusive interview. "But astatine the aforesaid time, to beryllium capable to spouse with a well-respected 3rd enactment tin bash that for us."

The comments travel aft activistic capitalist Dan Loeb's Third Point precocious took a caller involvement successful Disney during the 2nd quarter, valued astatine astir $1 billion, oregon 0.4% of the company.

Initially, Loeb pushed for Disney to rotation retired the sports property. But connected Sunday Loeb reversed his position, saying connected Twitter, "We person a amended knowing of @espn's imaginable arsenic a standalone concern and different vertical for $DIS to scope a planetary assemblage to make advertisement and subscriber revenues."

Sports betting was astatine the halfway of Loeb's earlier propulsion to rotation disconnected ESPN.