Disney + Pixar = Things Getting Better

[Dizparks]

Pixar's Jobs Sings Praises Of Disney's Iger
Chris Noon, 05.06.05, 1:23 PM ET

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Best buddies? Pixar Animation Studios (nasdaq: PIXR - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs has been getting on like a house on fire with Robert Iger, incoming CEO of The Walt Disney Co. (nyse: DIS - news - people ). No, really. "He seems like a terrific guy," Jobs said of his counterpart on the conference call after Pixar's earnings release yesterday. "As Bob assumes control of the company, we'll probably figure out fairly quickly whether there's some common ground or not." Jobs, who had a prickly relationship with Iger's predecessor, Michael Eisner, would like to negotiate a new distribution deal for Pixar, hopefully by the end of the year. Under its current deal, Disney contributes to half the production costs of each film, but takes more than 60% of box office revenue. As for those earnings, Pixar's results were once again lifted by animated suburban superheroes. It more than tripled its earnings for the first quarter on the strength of DVD sales of The Incredibles. The company reported net income of $81.9 million, or 67 cents a share for the quarter ended April 2, compared to $26.7 million, or 23 cents a share for the same period last year.
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[red345]

Sounds like things are on the up and up between the two companies. Hopefully we will see more of the same quality movies that both have made in the past come out. At least its better than the dreamworks rumors that were going around that Disney and Dreamworks were getting together.

 

[Lee]

Nice news...plus the fact that John Lassater was marathon-riding Jungle Cruise, even giving the speil at one point, at Disneyland this week.

I think it'll all work out.

 

[CaliSurfer182]

It is great that it looks like there are no hard feelings between the two companies, and that they might stay together to work. But who does that benefit more Disney or Pixar?

 

[CTXRover]

If they decide on a new deal, Jobs is going to have to budge on his original demands. It would be downright stupid on Disney's part to sign a new deal under the demands Pixar was asking for before talks were suspended. So in order for things to work, its more than just what Iger can do. Hopefully if the two are hitting it off though, they can come to a good agreement.

Personally though, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole calling off negotiations was due to personal disputes/issues between Jobs and Eisner. What both have said about each other publicly leads me to believe they genuinely hate each other. Sounds though like Jobs and Iger may be hitting it off, which is great to hear.

If they can find a way to make a new deal though, I do hope Disney continues to aggressively pursue reinventing their own animation unit and putting it back on top. They've been relying too much on Pixar in recent years and without them it would really increase the pressure to deliver hits. They better keep that attitude even if Disney and Pixar can reconcile.

 

[GenerationX]

Personally though, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole calling off negotiations was due to personal disputes/issues between Jobs and Eisner. What both have said about each other publicly leads me to believe they genuinely hate each other.

Good point. I am personally aware of negotiations between two intelligent, respected businessmen who became more obsessed with "winning" than creating a mutually beneficial agreement. In fact, near the end of the negotiations, it wasn't as much about winning as it was about seeing the other person lose. Ugly, ugly stuff.

If Iger and Jobs actually respect and like each other, they're less likely to hold ridiculous positions just to make the other one lose. And if they fail to make a deal, they both lose.