Andrew Selle, a senior researcher from Walt Disney Animation Studios (Disney animation), gave an invited talk in a computer graphics class I take this semester. He has already stayed in Disney animation for eight years and obviously he is happy with his current job. He said that Disney’s acquisition of Pixar is a turnaround point for
Disney animation.
Updates
Change of CEO and acquisition of Pixar
On October 1 of 2005, Bob Iger replaced Michael Eisner as CEO of Disney. Aware that Disney's relationship with
Pixar was wearing thin, Iger began negotiations with leadership of Pixar, Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull, regarding possible merger. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. As part of the acquisition, Pixar executives Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter assumed control of Walt Disney Feature Animation as President and Chief Creative Officer, respectively.
Performance of Pixar
Box office performance of Pixar’s feature films after the acquisition is stably strong, however, the critical reception of the recent three movies (Cars 2, Brave and Monster University) were less positive compared with previous ones like Toy story 3 and Up, which is shown in Exhibit 1.
Performance of Disney
Accompanied with an ascending trend of the box office performance, the critical reception of Disney animation’s feature films after the acquisition of Pixar is stably positive, which is shown in Exhibit 2.
2014 is Disney’s fourth fiscal year of record performance in a row. The stock price of Disney has been more than tripled now since its acquisition of Pixar, which is shown in Exhibit 3.
Takeaways
Key individuals in the acquisition
Two people played critical roles in Disney’s acquisition of Pixar.
Roy Edward Disney
Roy E. Disney was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver
Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded.
Peng Wang
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MOR 565 Assignment - Disney/Pixar Case
As Bob Iger commented: “Roy introduced us to Pixar in the 1990s, a relationship that has proven vital to our success.” [1]
In 2003, Roy E. Disney launched a second external "SaveDisney" campaign to force out Michael Eisner. One of
Roy Disney's stated reasons for engineering his second "SaveDisney" initiative had been Eisner's well-publicized but financially unjustified dissatisfaction with long-time production partner Pixar Animation Studios and its CEO Steve
Jobs. After two years of Roy E. Disney's "SaveDisney" campaign, Michael Eisner announced that he would resign and named Bob Iger, then president of The Walt Disney Company, his successor as chairman and CEO. Disney’s change of CEO was soon followed by its acquisition of Pixar.
Steve Jobs
Disney’s acquisition of Pixar catapulted Steve Jobs to Disney's largest shareholder with 7% of the corporation's outstanding shares. Jobs also gained a new seat on Disney's board of directors. It’s reasonable to believe that Jobs made unique contribution to Disney’s efficient integration of Pixar as well as the sustained growth of Disney after its acquisition of Pixar.
As Bob Iger commented: “Like Walt Disney, Steve had an expectation of excellence. He had obsessively high standards and he never accepted the merely good; he only accepted insanely great. He believed success came from collaboration, and great things in business were never done by one person. He thought deeply about everything and never rushed important matters. He would urge me to focus on what counts. He believed what mattered most was
“great ideas and great people.” [2] These common values shared by both Disney and Pixar served as the solid basis of their successful alliance.
Strategic fit and synergy
Bob Iger set three core strategic priorities for Disney after he became the CEO: “creating great entertainment that people want to experience; using new technology to maximize the quality and reach of that
