Disney in talks to buy Pixar

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...2C66EC927B%7D&

So this makes me wonder who is really buying who? ;-) Deja Vu? Remember when Apple bought NeXT Computer? The result was that Jobs turned Apple into what he always wanted NeXT to be...

The deal between Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studioswould leave Pixar's chief executive, Steve Jobs, as Disney's largest individual stockholder, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Should Disney acquire Pixar, Jobs, who's also CEO of Apple Computer Inc, , could be in a position to further help the company keep its content viable amid shifting consumer expectations and behavior.

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...h=pixar+disney

A possible merger of the Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios Inc., if successful, could give Pixar chief Steve Jobs the power to break down barriers that have long existed between online content, computer hardware and digital distribution.

[Jipsi Kinnear]

Great, mouseschwitz taking a bite of the apple. At least that crook Eisner is gone.

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...16.htm?chan=tc

There has been speculation that Jobs may push to become chairman himself, although some Disney board members think he shouldn't hold the top board seat on two large companies -- especially two that increasingly are doing business together; Disney is selling content to Apple for its video iPod. More likely, as a board member, Jobs would be forceful in his vision for the company's future. Yet that could be tough enough for a board that traditionally has tried to express itself through consensus. Remember, this is the same guy who returned to Apple ostensibly as a consultant, with no interest in running the show -- but who quickly did just that, showing former Apple boss Gil Amelio the door.

[Jipsi Kinnear]

Sadly, Variety is reporting right now that Disney is making the offer to buy Pixar as early as tomorrow morning. (Jan./24/2006)



"Disney is planning to announce as early as today that it will acquire Pixar in a deal worth $7 billion. Mouse House would offer Pixar Animation Studios a stock deal of $59 per share; the animation unit would become part of Disney's filmed animation division..."

Quote from Variety Magazine...

[Joe Carney]

I wonder how many of the top people will walk.

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...XAR-DISNEY.xml

The deal gives Jobs a stake in Disney worth some $3.7 billion. He owns a 50.6 percent stake in Pixar shares and has agreed to vote the equivalent of 40 percent of the outstanding Pixar shares in favor of the deal.

Disney also will surrender control of its world-famous animation studio, the birthplace of Mickey Mouse, to Pixar creative chiefs, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter. The companies will combine their animation operations.

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://yahoo.businessweek.com/techno...125_726361.htm

now that Walt Disney has clinched its $7.4 billion deal to buy Steve Job's Pixar Animation Studio, job No. 1 for Disney executives will be making sure Pixar's top creative folks don't head out the door. That won't be easy: For many in the movie industry, Disney is the big, bad, and faded ogre that once ruled the animation business. But since the mid-90s, it has been the upstarts -- companies like Pixar and PDI, the Northern California computer-animation unit of Dreamworks Animation SKG-- that have been the most daring, creative and, yes, successful of the cartoon companies.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Now Barron's is speculating that Jobs may be thinking about buying Disney for Apple. Funny thing... this almost sounds plausible to me. There were earlier rumors that Jobs wanted to run Disney, but that didn't ring true. However, expanding the scope and influence of Apple's empire does sound like the kind of thing that Steve would want to do....

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...oo&siteid=yhoo

[Jonathan Jones]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Now Barron's is speculating that Jobs may be thinking about buying Disney for Apple. Funny thing... this almost sounds plausible to me. There were earlier rumors that Jobs wanted to run Disney, but that didn't ring true. However, expanding the scope and influence of Apple's empire does sound like the kind of thing that Steve would want to do....

huh...I wonder what that would mean for any potential Apple involvement with the themeparks.....

let's see, ummm, the roller coasters would clock in at slower speeds than Six Flags or other parks, but they will be much smoother rides with far less down-time,

The teacups would undergo a complete re-design every 3 years,

Tomorrowland would be updated every 3 or 4 months, to include special press invitations and a major media blitz,

Every new ride would have Intel inside, but the control systems won't be coded in Univeral Binary as that would sound too much like a competing park,

The main street Electric Light Parade will be up to 5 times brighter, but will also be fitted with ambient light sensors.

The Disney Cruise Lines would be shut down because the ships will be given to Steve under private ownership in lieu of a salary for being the new 'big cheese' of mouseville.

-Jon

[Kevin Wild]

LOL...don't forget that the giant Epcot mirrored ball would be changed into a giant cube.

KW