“The cloud of uncertainty hovering over Disney thickened as Pixar closed the door on their distribution arrangement,” George Mannes reports for TheStreet.com. “Pixar, the animated movie studio led by former [sic] Apple exec Steve Jobs, said Thursday it ended talks over extending its collaboration with Burbank, Calif.-based Disney. Pixar said it will instead retain full ownership of movies made after 2005.”
[MDN Note: Relax, Steve’s still Apple CEO, too. There’s nothing “former” about it.]
“The status of Disney’s lucrative relationship with Pixar has been a matter of some vexation among Wall Street analysts, given how well movies like Finding Nemo have done. Pixar’s decision offers a further hurdle for Disney CEO Michael Eisner as he tries to steer his struggling media conglomerate into a full turnaround. The news comes as Eisner deals with uncertain economics in the TV and theme parks businesses, along with a pair of dissident shareholders seeking to portray the executive as overpaid and unresponsive to shareholder needs,” Mannes reports.
“Whether or not Pixar’s departure will hurt Disney is unclear, but analysts must think the deal is important to the company’s future. They’ve been asking about the progress of negotiations between the two companies at virtually every public forum in which Eisner has taken questions,” Mannes reports. ‘After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with Disney, we’re moving on,’ Jobs said. ‘We’ve had a great run together — one of the most successful in Hollywood history — and it’s a shame that Disney won’t be participating in Pixar’s future successes.'”
Full article here.