“George Lucas has no plans to sell his $2.02 billion stake in Walt Disney Co., his spokeswoman said, following a regulatory filing by the company that allows the “Star Wars” creator to divest the stock at his discretion,” Rob Golum reports for Bloomberg News.
“Lucas, 68, holds 37.1 million shares of Burbank, California-based Disney, a 2.1 percent stake, according to a registration yesterday by the film, TV and theme-park company,” Golum reports. “Disney agreed to register the stock as part of its accord to purchase the filmmaker’s Lucasfilm Ltd. The deal was completed on Dec. 21.”
Golum reports, “With the sale of his company, Lucas became the second- largest non-institutional shareholder in Disney, behind the trust of late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who sold Pixar to Disney in 2006.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Steve Jobs’s 7.7% stake in Walt Disney Co. was transferred on his death to a trust led by Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of the Apple Inc. co-founder.
Silly George… He could have loaned that money to Michael Dell!
This is such a stupid story. If Lucas sells his stock within 1 year of acquiring it, he pays significantly higher capital gains taxes. He’ll hold onto it for at least 12 months and 1 day, but probably longer as Disney looks to make a boatload of money off of the Star Wars and Marvell franchises in the next 2-4 years.
Glad you pointed that out. Whether he’ll sell after a year depends on how much “creative input” into Star Wars he’ll have. Too much, and the films will suck. Here’s hoping he likes money more than the stupid ideas at the bottom of his trunk.
Also, you meant Marvel, right? Love Iron Man.
When you have that much money, how do you wake up in the morning and think, ” I don’t like the direction the Jedis are taking in this new movie? ” I mean, how do you not wake up and say, “How many lives can I save anonymously today?”
Say what you will about him, but at least Bill Gates wakes up and say, “I’m gonna cure malaria one and for all this week.”
Lucas has his charities, too. And it’s not the making of money that drives someone like Lucas, its the game of creating something, telling a story, etc.
That said, I don’t think he’s going to have much input into the new Star Wars movies. After all, he even said he was done making Star Wars after his second trilogy was completed.
i bet he doesn’t have to wait in line for the Matterhorne or Pirates of the Caribbean. Probably gets his mickey ears free.
That figure is just about half of what he sold the studio to Disney for. So apparently he isn’t locked in against his will.
Also when he sold the headlines where that he gave 4 billion to education. My guess all along is that that means it goes to his educational foundation. He can’t possibly spend it all at once so it is best invested in a solid asset like Disney. And finally I’d guess part of staying ingaged has to do with the agreement they made to keep Lucas Films active in the Bay Area.
He did put most of it into his foundation.