Well, it’s finally official. Disney and Pixar have merged in one of the most talked about business transactions in years.
For awhile there, it was almost certain that Disney and Pixar would part ways for good. With Michael Eisner at the helm, both Steve Jobs and Eisner butt heads until finally, Pixar announced it would find distribution for its films elsewhere. This made many of board directors and stock holders unhappy and finally, Eisner was all but ousted from his seat as CEO of the Disney corporation.
Disney has achieved great success with Pixar generated films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and A Bug’s Life while Disney’s traditional animation films have generated less and less revenue and haven’t been among the critically acclaimed. As such, board members and stock holders alike became perplexed when Eisner didn’t aggressively pursue Pixar.
However, even though this may mean more quality animation for Disney, many Disney fans are still concerned over what will become of the rest of the company. After all, while as the current CEO of Disney, Robert Iger, has stated, animation is the heart of Disney, there is still much more to the company than just animated feature films. Namely Theme Parks, Resorts, Television, and Merchandising. What effect will this merger have on those assets of the company?
At this time, there’s no real way to know what impact this will have long term, but Igers has expressed that Disney will see a turn for a more profitable bottom line by 2008.
Reading through various news sites, message boards, and other online outlets, there are mixed feelings. Some positive, some skeptical, and some negative, but the only way to truly see how this event, which will be final in the summer of this year, is going to take shape is simply to wait and see. What is interesting is that Steve Jobs, Mr. Apple and Ipod himself, is now the largest stockholder of Disney shares. I’d say we’ll be seeing more Disney/Apple ad crossovers, but one can only hope that won’t be the case and the two will remain distinctly different.
I’ll be posting more news here on the merger and what this means for Disney and Disney fans as a whole in the coming weeks and months.
Until then, see ya real soon!