In February 2024, Disney invested $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, as part of a multi-year project to build a new games and entertainment universe.
An outright acquisition of Epic would be a second attempt at the same ambition, only this time with a company Disney has already paid $1.5 billion to understand.
The article's headline is wrong or misleading. Disney isn't looking at buying Epic for $1.5b, that's what they've already invested in Epic. There is no mention of a proposed acquisition price in the article.