Word: disney
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Since Jobs owns about half of Pixar, worth $3.5 billion, he is set to become Disney's largest individual shareholder, with a 7% stake. He is also in line for a board seat, which could advance all sorts of deals with Apple. Downloads from Disney's ABC network are already available at the iTunes video store. Think ESPN podcasts to iPods via wireless. Or an Apple TV network featuring tech talk with Jobs. Ever coy, Jobs was vague about his plans, but he is expected to push Disney to leverage its vast library across more digital platforms. He could also...
...Lasseter, reviving Disney animation while maintaining Pixar's excellence will be quite a feat. The Burbank shop is a husk of the studio that made The Lion King in 1994. Hundreds of animators lost their jobs in the wake of duds like Atlantis. Rival studios like DreamWorks, meanwhile, created hot characters such as Shrek, worth millions in licensing revenue. And Disney all but ignored digital animation until recently...
That's why Lasseter, Pixar's storyteller in chief, will become Disney's chief creative officer. Already he has suspended Disney's work on Toy Story 3. Before the deal, Disney owned the right to produce Pixar sequels without Pixar and was exercising it, to Lasseter's horror. A Disney animator back in the days of Tron, Lasseter is expected to revamp Toy Story 3 and other features in part by demanding that stories and characters drive the picture--not the visuals or bean counters. Catmull says creatives at Disney animation and Pixar will work more closely on story development...
...steering committee is supposed to protect Pixar's culture, and Cook says Jobs agreed to sell only after getting a guarantee that Pixar wouldn't be Disneyfied. But the price is steep. SG Cowen analyst Lowell Singer estimates that if Pixar doesn't produce four films every three years, Disney's profits will take a hit. Says Singer: "Disney is paying a price for Pixar that requires flawless execution...
Lasseter is being richly rewarded to be Disney's reanimator. He will earn at least $2.5 million in salary, and he owns stock worth $25.4 million. Trouble is, he is one of those annoying people who don't seem to care much about more money. In 1998 he told TIME he was staying at Pixar because that was where his friends and toys were. Investors should hope he will find new friends and toys at Disneyland...