Disney acquires Pixar, Steve Jobs becomes largest Disney shareholder...

[Tekneek]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11003466/

LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it is buying longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion in a deal that could restore Disney’s clout in animation while vaulting Pixar CEO Steve Jobs into a powerful role at the media conglomerate.

Disney will buy the maker of blockbuster films including “Toy Story" and “Finding Nemo” in an all-stock transaction that makes Jobs Disney’s largest shareholder. Jobs, who controls more than half of Pixar’s stock and also heads Apple Computer Inc., will also join Disney’s board.

In case anyone here finds this interesting...

Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will become chief creative officer of the animation studios and principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the company’s theme parks.

[Schmidty]

Didn't that own Pixar before? (no I didn't read the article)

[Tekneek]

Nope. They just had a very nice distribution and rights deal with Pixar. Now it will be a unit within Disney.

[ThunderingHERD]

I thought Pixar was pissed off at Disney? What happened?

[Darkiller]

That's HUGE news...

[Tekneek]

I thought Pixar was pissed off at Disney? What happened?

Eisner left the company completely and Steve Jobs found he could get along with Robert Iger (Eisner's replacement).

[Subby]

Great move for Disney...

[cthomer5000]

Great move for Disney...
Very, very desperate move for Disney. I think this is an admittance that they really have nothing original left. They realized that when Pixar was completely free of them (after Cars), they were screwed.


Good financial move, but i think it says more about the sad state of Disney itself than about their financial cunning.

[Tekneek]

Very, very desperate move for Disney. I think this is an admittance that they really have nothing original left. They realized that when Pixar was completely free of them (after Cars), they were screwed.


Good financial move, but i think it says more about the sad state of Disney itself than about their financial cunning.

In all the time Pixar has had to negotiate new arrangements for post-Disney life, they reached no agreement with anybody else. Disney didn't want to let Pixar go, but Pixar didn't find the grass any greener anywhere else either.

You could do a lot worse out of "desperation" besides bringing in an entity considered to be the best in their class...nevermind having existing ties to Disney within the ranks that can apply to other parts of the company. It helps juice up a company that was damaged by the penny-pinching management hold that Eisner had once Frank Wells died.