Friday, January 20, 2006

Disney - Pixar

I'm scratching my head a bit over the rumored Disney-Pixar tie-up, particularly since the merger price is right around Pixar's current value. Disney hasn't had a decent animated feature in years, while Pixar churns out smash after smash. You'd think Jobs would have all the leverage to get a premium deal. On the other hand, Pixar will need a new distro deal by mid-year, and the idea of Disney having the right to make muddled sequels to Toy Story and the like has got to be deeply grating to the creative types at Pixar.

Pixar's shares are near an all-time high, so perhaps Steve Jobs figures this is as good a time as any to cement the value, get Pixar control over sequels, and influence Disney's direction (and faster growth for former Pixar shareholders) via a BOD seat.

1 comment:

Parkite said...

i'd be surprised if this happened also. I can't see Steve selling this for anywhere close to the current value, regardless of the fact that the stock is near an all-time high. Pixar and Jobs' have the leverage here for the reasons you mentioned. I would also suspect that Jobs' would be very difficult to deal w/in a negotiation given his tendencies.