The rumors are flying thick around the Internet that Pixar’s board is meeting to approve a buyout of Pixar by Disney. If true, the deal would make Steve Jobs the single largest shareholder of the entertainment giant.
Which makes me think that most of the headlines will get it wrong: “Disney buys Pixar.” A better headline would be “Steve Jobs buys Disney.” These rumors remind me of when Apple bought NeXT. As with this deal, Steve Jobs came as part of the package.
At the time, his role was simply as a consultant to Apple. Then it became an interim CEO. Now he’s unquestionably entrenched as Apple’s official CEO and unofficial savior.
I think Jobs may be positioning himself to try to the trick on a larger scale. From largest shareholder to CEO, with the support of “some influential folks”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Edward_Disney who have “expressed interest in him”:http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2004/nf20040517_9506_db049.htm in the past.
On a tangent: if Jobs does become the next CEO of Disney, does he continue his dual CEO role with Apple? That’s a tremendous amount of power in the entertainment industry for one guy, but also an overwhelming amount of work.
On a second tangent: with Jobs at the helm, would the hippie and former scofflaw take a more enlightened stance on “Mickey Mouse’s copyright”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act?
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:51 am
Not being a particular fan of Disney for many different reasons. I am not entirely sure what to think of this rumor. Many seem to think that Jobs and the Disney board would clash. Others think he could be the saviour of Disney. Mostly though I just hope Pixar can steer clear of the Mire that seems to happen when Disney tries to get creative. I have a lot of respect for Pixar. They do really great work both technologically and creatively. It should be interesting to watch how this plays out though.
January 23rd, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Smart people get rich; smart rich people do good things?
But seriously… Disney may be a significant step bigger than Pixar, but I didn’t hear anybody fussing about Jobs being CEO of Pixar and Apple earlier.