Pixar, Disney Trade Barbs on Partnership

[CTXRover]

I second everything Mr. Promey said. Well done.

After seeing Job's little "hissy-fit" and unprofessional, arrogant, self-loving attitude on full, public, and mind you , PLANNED, display, I hope he NEVER gets offered Eisner's job. The man is no better than Eisner. Although his comments on creativity and sequels I agree with, they were unnecessary and totally out of line in context of professional and responsible business etiquette. No wonder a new deal was never signed, can anyone imagine this man and Eisner ever trying to work things out? I really don't think we should applaud Jobs for making this unnecessary and unprofessional 'speech' to bash another company. Its one thing to say how great your company is and so on, but its a whole other thing to publicly chastise another company the way Mr. Jobs did. Although I agree with many of the points he said concerning Disney, again, I think it was said at the wrong time and place and really it makes me feel a little sorry for Pixar that this man is in charge.

 

[CTXRover]

Pixar stock drops after Jobs vents

Although the stock market fluctuates on a day to day basis...one would expect that after announcing that your earnings 'quintupled' that your stock would rise, no? Well, it seems Wall Street was taken back by Jobs' unprofessional remarks about Disney as well as Pixar stock FELL 1.5% today. Sure it could rise tomorrow and this little 'blip' won't matter...but it does seem to indicate that investors weren't impressed with Jobs's "presentation" yesterday.

Again, I agree with the most part on what he said...especially with concern to Disney's straight-to-video sequels of every classic Disney feature...but his remarks should not have been part of his announcment on earnings for the fourth quarter...and it seems investors felt the same.

(Source: CBS MarketWatch)

 

[Woody13]

Re: Pixar stock drops after Jobs vents

Originally posted by CTXRover
...especially with concern to Disney's straight-to-video sequels of every classic Disney feature...

Just a point to ponder. Some of those sequels (originally intended to go straight to DVD) ended up as very good theatrical releases. They made Disney a lot of money and entertained a lot of people.

 

[MouseRight]

Originally posted by Woody13
Thanks for the link. You're right. You learn a lot more by listening to the conference rather than just reading a transcript. With that in mind, I am curious if you are going to attend any of the Disney investment analysts meetings during the next week?

No, I can't go, I'll be in CA on business. However, I understand you can listen to them on the Web. I will try and do that.

Here's the link and info in case anyone else wants to listen in.

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2004--Senior management of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS - News) including Michael Eisner, chairman and CEO, Bob Iger, president and COO, and Tom Staggs, senior executive vice president and CFO, as well as business unit leaders, will speak to investors at a conference on Wed. & Thurs., Feb. 11 & 12, 2004. The conference will begin at 12:30 p.m. EST on Wed., Feb. 11 and will continue at 4:30 p.m. EST with a discussion of first quarter 2004 financial results (which will be released at 4:01 p.m. EST). The conference will resume with a general session at 7:00 p.m.
On Thurs., Feb 12, the conference will continue at 9:30 a.m. EST. Senator George Mitchell, a Disney board member and presiding director, is scheduled to address the conference on matters of corporate governance at approximately 1:00 p.m. EST on Thurs., Feb 12. The business sessions are expected to conclude at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST.

All presentations will be available live via Web cast. Please point your browser to www.disney.com/investors. Replays for each presentation will be provided through February 20, 2004 at 5:00 p.m. PST.

 

[GaryT977]

*sigh*

I'm not going to keep defending Jobs. Pixar signed the deal when they were an unknown, and Disney made a fortune off of it. When the time came for a new deal, Disney would not acknowledge that Pixar was no longer an unknown, and didn't need Disney's marketing prowess to distribute their movies anymore. That's not information that I'm privvy to, those are hard facts.

If Roy Disney had said what Jobs said, you all would be praising him.

 

[JBSLJames]

PIXAR made their bed. Now sleep in it. Disney will "live on" and move forward. With or without PIXAR.

All Disney needs to do now is hire Lassiter and move forward.

 

[MrPromey]

Originally posted by GaryT977
*sigh*

I'm not going to keep defending Jobs. Pixar signed the deal when they were an unknown, and Disney made a fortune off of it. When the time came for a new deal, Disney would not acknowledge that Pixar was no longer an unknown, and didn't need Disney's marketing prowess to distribute their movies anymore. That's not information that I'm privvy to, those are hard facts.

And when you say it that way, it makes sense all the way around. I've even said almost the same thing in response to you and others in another thread.

I don't think that Pixar represents the "bad guys"... I also don't happen to think that Disney does either. They are two publicly traded companies who's financial interests were probably too different for a new deal to be made.

Based on that logic, Jobs could have said the same thing at that public meeting but he didn't. Personally, I think what he did say was in very poor taste. To me, it is like an employee quitting and then saying bad things about their former employer to the entire world... It just isn't smart...

Publicly speaking poorly of a partner who controls your financial future for the next two years isn't exactly bright either.

Originally posted by GaryT977

If Roy Disney had said what Jobs said, you all would be praising him.

Nope. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure that what Roy is doing is actually in the best interest of the company either...

Roy has a lot of personal reasons to want to go after Eisner. The truth is that if he weren't about to be forced out of the board, he probably wouldn't have resigned and we wouldn't be hearing a peep out of him (as a board member, he wouldn't be allowed to speak publicly)...

He seems courageous for what he is doing but the only thing he has to loose at this point is the value of stock that he has already sold a lot of and that he financially doesn't even need. Part of the reason that he is going to have trouble winning in this situation is that Eisner is doing what his bosses want - making more short term money. Most investors aren't interested in art or legacies or anything else beyond the all mighty dollar. It is sad but it is also true...

So is Roy acting partially out of anger over being booted from the family business? Does he really see problems with things? The answer is probably a little of the former and a lot of the later but Roy publicly blasting Eisner isn't going to do great things for the value of the company. Eisner being forced out and replaced by someone who gets shoved in there to replace him under hostile circumstances isn't either.

So you say Roy is looking to the long term... Well, does anyone remember how Eisner ended up with Disney in the first place? The stock had been depreciated enough at that point that a small group was able to launch a takeover attempt.

Roy may be doing the only thing he can because the only control he wields at this point comes from the value of his last name but I think what he is doing right now (no matter how sincere) is a little misguided and dangerous as well.

I hate to burst your bubble but it isn't a deep seated hatred for Jobs that is the basis for my opinion. I don't like the guy but the reason I don't like him is because he does things like this - not the other way around.

 

[GaryT977]

Originally posted by MrPromey
I hate to burst your bubble but it isn't a deep seated hatred for Jobs that is the basis for my opinion. I don't like the guy but the reason I don't like him is because he does things like this - not the other way around.

I think 'hatred' is a strong term, I just know there's alot of people that have a visceral reaction to him, and I can easily see why. He's an arrogant (probably not a strong enough word) man, and I can see your point. However, I tend to look at results rather than what's said. Also, and maybe I just have a higher tolerance for the kinds of comments he made, I didn't see anything in his comments that bothered me too much.

Of course I use to try to defend Steve Spurrier to FSU fans when he was the Gator's coach, so I know what I'm up against.

As far as Roy goes, I've said very little on the subject. I was just pointing out that he's saying basically the same things Job's said (maybe a little more tactfully) , and no one is ripping into him.

I still think this hurts Disney alot more in the long run, and some other studio is going to reap the rewards of working wiht Pixar.

 

[Woody13]

The Mouse That Roared!

Graphical User Interface (GUI) (That's the computer mouse)

The GUI had its roots in the 1950s but was not developed until the 1970s when a group at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) developed the Alto, a GUI-based computer. The Alto was the size of a large desk, and Xerox believed it unmarketable. Jobs took a tour of PARC in 1979, and saw the future of personal computing in the Alto. Although much of the Interface of both the Lisa and the Mac was based (at least intellectually) heavily on the work done at PARC, and many of the engineers there later left to join Apple, much of the Mac OS was written before Job's visit to PARC. When Jobs accused Bill Gates of Microsoft of stealing the GUI from Apple and using it in Windows 1.0, Gates fired back:

"No, Steve, I think its more like we both have a rich neighbor named Xerox, and you broke in to steal the TV set, and you found out I'd been there first, and you said. "Hey that's no fair! I wanted to steal the TV set!"

In the end, Jobs lost his lawsuit against Microsoft. The Mac now accounts for only about 2% of home computers. Why? Because Jobs still keeps the entire Mac system proprietary (i.e. Apple builds them and makes the OS). Jobs will drive Pixar into the ground based upon his poor results with Apple.

Jobs has demonstrated a poor business model with Apple over the years and he's doing the same with Pixar. Jobs still doesn't regret the Microsoft incident nor will he regret the split with Disney. But, the Pixar shareholders will!