“If the Pixar deal goes through, he’ll be the biggest shareholder in the Mouse House. He won’t be shy about expressing himself, either,” Ronald Grover writes for BusinessWeek. “For a Magic Kingdom, the boardroom of the Walt Disney Co. (DIS ) can be a pretty nasty place. In Michael Eisner’s 20-plus years at the company, there were shouting matches, backroom intrigue, and more than a little backstabbing. Eisner himself forced one board member out of the Mouse House, when she spoke up in favor of dissident members who questioned Eisner’s grasp on the CEO job. Another board member, Walt’s nephew Roy Disney, was also shown the door — ostensibly for passing the mandatory retirement age for the board.”
“Now, as rumors continue to circulate that Pixar Chairman Steve Jobs will sell his company to Disney and join the Disney board, veteran mouse watchers are bracing for new fireworks. Think of Jobs joining Disney as Silicon Valley fire hitting old-media kerosene,” Grover writes. “This much is certain about Jobs, who has catapulted Apple from the brink of collapse to prosperity through strategic vision, a virtuosic feel for what consumers want, and the sheer force of his personality: If he thinks he’s right, get out of the way. And given his astounding success not only at Apple, but as the most successful movie mogul of the past decade, he’ll likely have opinions aplenty for Disney’s directors. The 13 members of the Disney board, which has been beefed up recently with experienced — if somewhat traditional — new directors, could be feeling the Jobs Force up close and personal.”
Full article here.
“This news sent shares of Disney up more than 3 percent on Thursday, a curious move since shares of companies rumored to be making a purchase usually fall on merger-related speculation,” Paul R. La Monica reports for CNNMoney. ‘Clearly the market is giving this a thumb’s up,’ said David Katz, chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors, a New York-based money management firm that owns 1.2 million shares of Disney. ‘Steve Jobs would have a huge vested interest in making Disney successful.'”
“But Pixar’s shares gained more than 3.5 percent on Thursday, putting the company’s market value at just over $7 billion. If Disney were to make a deal for Pixar, analysts said it would probably have to pay a premium to the stock’s current valuation,” La Monica reports.
“Disney could also benefit from having Pixar’s creative head, John Lasseter, back in the Disney fold and in charge of all of Disney’s animated movies. Lasseter left Disney in 1984 and joined Pixar in 1986,” La Monica reports. “Katz at Matrix said that it would probably have been impossible to imagine Lasseter working for Disney if Michael Eisner were still in charge. But Eisner’s successor, Bob Iger, has quickly moved to repair the bad blood between Disney and Pixar.”
Full article here.
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Related article:
Report: Disney in talks to buy Pixar; Steve Jobs could become largest individual Disney shareholder – January 19, 2006
Why not the other way round? Apple bought over Disney, or Pixel bought over Disney. I’m sure they can do it.
This would make for an interesting conundrum. I love Apple, but really fucking hate Disney. Hmm…
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because Disney doesn’t want to be bought and they have no reason to sell.
well… i guess they DO have reason… but they won’t
Eisner was a royal piece of ineffective mind controlling $hit and his cronnies are still on the board and in the senior positions.
He killed Disney and quite frankly nothing Steve Jobs can do to change the image Disney now has as a tired old coglomerate rehashing the same old tired amusements and characters.
John Lasseter should have a more influential role and Steve Jobs should just mind Apple and cash out of Pixar totally or over time.
Pixar paid, it’s time to let it go and kick Microsoft’s collective assets.
Thing about a buisness is you got to know when to let it go. Especially if it’s worth a bundle and you got a buyer.
Fireworks will not explode, Steve would be dumb to be on the board of Disney, worrying about how much bubblegum is sticking to the sidewalks at Disney World, stupid ABC shows, and if they should castrate Donald Duck or not.
Reminds me of a joke.
A duck walks into a bar and tells the bartender of his wonderful day, how he was in and out of puddles all day.
Another duck comes in and says just about the same thing. How wonderful it was that he was in and out of puddles all day.
A third duck comes in and tells the bartender what a lousy day she had.
The bartender says “how can that be, your friends say they have been in and out of puddles all day”
The third duck says “yea my name is Puddles”
I love Disney, Love apple, Love pixar… well that would pretty much me the Happiest Boy on earth ^^
It could benefit both companies greatly, and certainly put Apple’s foot in the door more so in Media… ^^
What once was out, now is in. Disney wants to be beleaguered.
Well, Pixar isn’t big enough to buy Disney, for the person who asked. And, Apple would never buy Disney, it’s just a bad fit.
Though a merger seemed unlikely only a short while ago, it’s starting to gain traction. First, while Pixar is pricey, Disney shares have run up nicely themselves, so a share purchase is actually cheaper today than it was a year ago. Second, it’s a way for Steve to thumb his nose at Eisner. Third, it also allows Lasseter to take over Disney Animation, and you know as much as Pixar loves to be Pixar, they still all cherish all the great work that Disney has done in the past. Many of the Pixar folk cut their teeth at Disney, so taking over the MouseHouse animation studio would be a dream, and a vindication of their view of animation as well. So, it’s not just Steve’s desire, but I bet it is Lasseter’s and Catmull’s as well.
Fourth, I think when they were trying to strike a distribution deal, Steve’s position was a BIG WIN for Pixar, but a big loser for Disney. He wanted a George Lucas type deal, and that isn’t going to happen. Disney is better off financially saying adios and making sequels to Toy Story and Monster’s Inc. However, Iger backed himself into a corner by telling shareholders he would repair his relationship with Steve, so he HAS to make some type of deal. A distribution deal is a loser, so why not buy Pixar?
Here are some quick numbers off the top of my head. Pixar’s 6 films have made $3.2Billion dollars in box office. They have sold probably 220 Million DVDs and tapes. That probably adds $2.2Billion in wholesale revs. Let’s say, Disney gets half the box office, that’s $1.6B plus $2.2B, for a total of $3.8B over 6 films, or roughly $650M a film, and rising. For example Nemo did $850M in box office and over 50M dvds, so that might be $925M just for that film. Let’s assume Pixar averages $750M for a film a year, which is their plan. One a year. Take out $200M for production and marketing, that’s $550M per flick. Take out taxes, that’s $350M net income a year. What’s that worth? Apply a multiple of 20, and you get $7B. Hmm… that’s just about where Pixar is right now. $7B. This could happen.
MW = price
Hmmm…
Perhaps this explains Mr. Eisner’s abrupt resignation from the board after passing on the reins to Mr. Iger and relinquishing his planned consultancy role? Maybe he saw this coming? Or maybe not.
I understood that Steve Jobs’ share in Pixar would make him the biggest ~individual~ shareholder in Disney.
That isn’t the same thing as being the biggest institutional share holder or having anything like a controlling influence, but it would give him a degree of influence.
But talk of a merger is merely speculation and it doesn’t make much sense to me. I reckon it would make much more sense if they stayed separate and Disney & Pixar negotiated a better distribution deal.
From today´s NY Times article:
“Mr. Iger, according to one Disney investor, was in a difficult spot. Since being named chief executive last year, he had told Wall Street that his No. 1 priority was reinvigorating Disney’s animation business. But in saying so, said one Disney investor, “Disney had boxed themselves into a corner.” Pixar, in recent years, has been a steady supplier of new characters and stories for Disney, which were adapted for use in Disney’s theme parks and consumer products.
Mr. Iger did not make Mr. Jobs an offer then. Price was an issue: Mr. Jobs wanted far more than $60 a share. Disney, for its part, wanted to see how its first foray into computer animation, “Chicken Little,” would fare when it was released in November. (It performed well, but not as well as Pixar movies.)
“We suspect Disney was increasingly concerned with its upcoming internally generated animated films,” said Mr. Greenfield of Pali Research. Indeed, last year Disney postponed one of the four computer-animated films it was betting on, “Rapunzel Unbraided.”
In December, Mr. Iger and Disney’s investment bankers started to think about buying a stake in Pixar instead. But by January, the person who talked with Mr. Iger said, the Disney chief was anxious to acquire all of Pixar.
Wall Street reacted positively to news of a potential merger. On Thursday shares of Pixar increased 2.8 percent, to close at $58.87. Disney shares rose 4 percent, to $26.24.
“Perhaps Steve is selling at the top of the market,” Mr. Greenfield said. “He is finally ready to take a victory lap at what has become a successful company.”
From NYTimes article it bascially says that Steve has been shopping Pixar to Disney – the only question is price.
The real question is what will Steve do once Pixar is sold?
Will he try to take an active position in Disney? If so, perhaps Apple will suffer. And then this means Steve has a new view on the future of Apple.
If Steve just takes the money and runs (no further other than a minor “advisor” role at Disney) what does that mean for Apple?
Has everyone been putting to much importance on the Pixar-Steve-Apple relationship??? Maybe Steve just sees it as a bunch of cartoons that he has nothing to do with and doesn´t want to be involved with anymore – doesn´t really have anything to do with Apple?
But by doing this sale he loses lots of leverage with Disney and Hollywood. Once Disney has Pixar the other Steve (Ballmer) and Google will be knocking at Mickey´s door telling Disney they can deliver Disney videos better via the computer.
Interesting to see what develops.
Understanding Hollywood in all of its aspects is a crucial asset for Apple, since Apple is going after the consumer electronic business and the delivery of entertainment content to its customers. Consider a Disney board position for Jobs as an intelligence coup for Apple.
That isn’t the same thing as being the biggest institutional share holder or having anything like a controlling influence, but it would give him a degree of influence.
–
And then you remember that we’re talking about SJ.In what galaxy do you think he’ll join Disney and not have a major influence on the company?
This is a case of tunnel syndrome. Step back and re-read your post.
Pixar movies are next generation and modern day. I love Bugs Bunny as much as anyone, but Bugs is previous generation and Disney needs to jump on the bandwagon of Pixar success and the standards they have created such as premium quality visually and storywise and pushing the envelope where it has never gone before. Funny, sounds just like the Mac and OS X. Wonder why.
I HATE DISNEY with all my heart and soul!!! Those racist pigs would not give an in-the-public job because my skin was too dark. Disney is an evil racist,sexist devil worshipping cult. Even the founder (Walt) was a coke head. If Apple joins with those pig I’m going back to MS or Linux. Disney is a tool of Satan.
iDon’t
uDon’t mince your words do you? That was a shit thing to happen, but you need to get over it. Life is too short. Move on.
Georgy Porgy
Time Warner mean anything to you?
And now to the subject at hand.
It looks already like Iger’s Disney is going to be a very different place to Eisner’s. It could be that Bob wants Jobs on the Board as a catalyst to clear out the deadwood and start rebuilding the company. Eisner cleaned out the animation division, closing the studios and outsourcing pretty much everything to the cheapest supplier. The drop in quality and endless straight to video sequels was the result.
John Lassiter could provide the right character creation environment to not only produce high-quality computer animation, but result in Disney releasing a decent cartoon animation for the first time since Katzenberg left. This deal would show more about Iger’s intent for the company than cementing the Pixar name.
Georgy Porgy: Bugs Bunny is Warner Bros., not Disney.
Those racist pigs would not give an in-the-public job because my skin was too dark
Well I’m sorry, Snow White wasn’t a gay, dark skinned character and we will not hire you to play her part no matter how much you cry.
– Walt
I would never hire you either–you sound like a lunatic. Maybe they noticed your shining personality?
Kate
What’s all this about Steve Jobs buying Time Warner…?
Seriously, John Lasseter as head of animation (assuming Jobs could assume enough influence to appoint him) is an interesting idea. I think what the talent at Pixar really, really want is the rights to the characters they created. Being head of Disney animation would indeed give Lasseter that — he’d finally hold the rights to Woody and Buzz, because they’d come alongside his new ownership of Mickey Mouse.
“…he’ll be the biggest shareholder in the Mouse House”
This can mean very little. For example, a company has a million shares. 999,998 people each own one share. One person owns 2 shares – he/she is now “the biggest shareholder”.
What´s the 2nd, third, 4th etc own?
And who says Steve wants shares – maybe he is taking cash. (He wants to buy more Apple stock!)
would Steve really fit into a roll of being a board member?
Really , think about it. Here’s a guy who is used to being in total control of Next, Apple and Pixar.
This guy does what he wants. Does anyone really, honestly see him on a Disney board calling everyone stupid and whatever other verbal abusive word you can find?
This is simply the next phase of say a 5-7 year deal and another 6 movies? But hey I was wrong about the roll out of Intel in a mac so I’ll go eat my crow.
Apple spends a LOT of money on R & D and “getting it right” — that’s a core part of their philosophy. Disney has been overrun by a bunch of Eisner-robot consultants who gutted Imagineering, choked the budget on every attraction and park project, and forced the studio to squeeze out dozens of crappy direct-to-video sequels. Oh, and pressured the creative folks to stop using Macs because it cost too much to maintain them.
Disney desperately needs some yelling and screaming from new big-time shareholder Steve to start spending some damn money, doing the necessary R & D, and just start getting things right again — not just adequate, but right, the way Apple does. Would be nice to see him help bring back some of the magic and luster Eisner & co. squandered over the last 15-20 years of cheaping out on everything.
PixarDisneyDailyNews.com sucks