Disney in Talks to Acquire Pixar?!

[Snowflake]

This on Yahoo news this morning.

If that is the case, the pixarization of Disneyland would continue, unabated. For me, the only thing that makes sense to pixarize at Disneyland would be a re-theming of the Peoplemover tracks to the cool little Incredibles pods.

Or to open an Harryhausen's sushi bar....

Pixarization (n.) - to absorb, replace and overtake all original Disney themed rides and attractions with Pixar animated themes. Ex. No longer King Arthur's Carousel, Toy Story Carousel. Here, jump up on Mr. Potato Head and reach for the gold ring.....

Donna

[€uroMeinke]

Well I suppose that's better than Power Rangers Disnyeland...

[Ghoulish Delight]

Mostly what I'd hope for out of the deal would be that Pixar maintain the creative autonomy that's allowed it to be so amazing. Of course, if, as reported, Jobs becomes Disney's single largest shareholder, that would definitely increase the odds of that happening.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I read about this news earlier and the first thing that popped into my head was "NOOOOOO!" Basically, my fear is that Disney would apply it's smothering policies on Pixar and that Pixar would lose their autonomy to produce excellent films because of Disney's Corporatethink. (I'm sure I'm not explaining this well.)

As for seeing more Pixar at DL, I don't have a problem with that.

[Alex]

Rumors have been swirling for three months with every week or so one of the major business coverage newspapers and magazines saying a deal is a few days away.

If Disney does buy Pixar, I'd prefer it be in the way they bought Miramax, leaving it as a mostly independent production company but Pixar is much, much bigger (financially) than Miramax was at the time of purchase.

There have been rumors of Steve Jobs getting the Chairmanship (since George Mitchell should be out in a year) out of this purchase, which I think has the potential for disaster if he ties to become a major player in the day-to-day management of Disney. But unless he gets something thoroughly ego-boosting out of the deal I don't see him selling Pixar outright.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Why, Alex, do you see disaster with Jobs as Chair? Personally, I would be hoping that with Jobs as the largest stockholder, some of the innovation and creativity that's been the Hallmark of his businesses rubs off on Disney, for it's sorely lacking.

[wendybeth]

I have mixed feelings on this- I think Jobs is an amazing and talented man, but he has a notoriously huge ego and I don't know how that would work over the long haul within the confines of a company like the WDC. After going through the Eisner years, the company is bound to be gun-shy and Jobs is a bit of a loose cannon. It could be good, but it could also be messy. I do think of Pixar as a part of the Disney family, so it would be nice to see a deal struck that would cement that relationship, but not at the cost of it's creativity and edginess.

[Alex]

Actually, Jobs has a mixed track record until recently (the most brilliant thing he ever did was convincing Apple to buy his dog NeXT; I don't know how much of the Pixar credit goes to Jobs other than him having the smarts to be mostly hands off) and I think his successes at Apple have been mostly cosmetic rather than fundamental.

He's never run a company as broad scoped as Disney and has shown little ability to focus on more than one thing at a time, even at Apple you see success in one product line at a time (iMac followed by PowerBook followed by iPod) more than broad based success throughout the company. As much as we'd like running Disney to be all about the theme parks and being curators of classic animated movies, that is only a small fraction of what they do and 90% of the business lines are something that Jobs has zero experience with.

He has a huge ego. This is not necessarily a bad thing but considering that Chairman of the Board is not necessarily the best place in the world from which to try and wield that ego so unless Jobs is given both President and COB then I think some pretty significant internal conflict is likely.

Now, if I'm wrong and it turns out that Iger and Jobs could work in a Eisner/Wells sort of relationship then things could be great. But I don't know if Diseny should be so eager to jump into personality driven leadership again.

I have no particular insight or expertise to be making an evaluation. It is just a thought that fills me with a certain amount of unease.