The purchase of Pixar, even at seven plus billion, modernizes the aging Mouse House. I wish we could now get Steve Jobs working on our moribund auto industry. On my recent trip to the LA Auto Show, I didn’t see a single American car that didn’t put me to sleep. What happened to the creativity? I didn’t see any on the stylistic or the technological sides. Hint to Detroit – the 1950s are over.
Other plummeting business here.
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8 Comments
1. Sandy P:So I’m to own the Mouse again, eh?
Wouldn’t it just be ironic(?) if “Cars” tanks?
Jan 24, 2006 - 2:16 pm 2. Laurence Simon:Disney choked long after the attempt to swallow Cap-Cities/ABC, demoralizing the network, O&O’s, and newspapers.
They turned Starwave into the miserable Go.com, hung Naughton out to dry.
They lost the magic-touch Weinsteins with the takeover of Miramax, going from an Oscar-factory to a bomb factory.
Shedding the newspaper/publishing dinosaurs showed their inability to take moribund industries and revamp them for Media 2.0.
Dumping the radio network shows a similar inability to take existing assets and transform them to the new digital realities. (They’re betting on iPods and satellite distribution)
My prediction with Pixar? They built up a horribly expensive inhouse animation team under Eisner to replace Pixar when Eisner stubbornly refused to negotiate with the vastly superior managerial talent and vision of Jobs. That team will be anightmare to integrate with Pixar, and the rivalry will be fierce for years in a negative way, not in a “co-opetition” everybody-wins way.
Jan 24, 2006 - 2:47 pm 3. Charlie (Colorado):Counter-prediction: the acquisition of Disney by Pixar will turn out to be a major success, and Jobs will become known throughout Disney as a major pain in the ass.
Jan 24, 2006 - 2:51 pm 4. JK Ribera:I agree with Charlie (Colorado). I would imagine the problems described by the commenter above were long ago dealt with during negotiation. I would doubt Jobs is that stupid.
Jan 24, 2006 - 8:38 pm 5. ajf:Disney just became a division of Apple. Mr. Jobs’ track record is clear in this area. Iger is just a younger, slimmer Amelio.
Jan 24, 2006 - 11:53 pm 6. triticale:I’d say that Detroit is replaying the ’70s, not the ’50s. Even the HRR, which is the PT Cruiser done surprisingly right, is second-order retro.The biggest mistake they are still making is in how they compete with the imports, which hadn’t become an issue in the ’50s.
Jan 25, 2006 - 6:53 am 7. newscaper:I’m afraid this will lead to the ruination of Pixar.
Jan 25, 2006 - 7:02 am 8. Anthony (Los Angeles):Exec types absolutely CANNOT resist meddling in order to put their personal stamp on things even if it means screwing up a well-oiled machine like Pixar.
As a Pixar shareholder, I’m disappointed with the sale price; it represents almost no premium over Pixar’s current value, thus not taking into account potential revenue from future films (like the soon-to-come “Cars”) and a growing library. I bought Pixar as a growth company. Now that it’s becoming part of that unwieldy behemoth Disney, I’ll have to reevaluate my holdings.
Grumble….mutter…feeling cranky
Jan 25, 2006 - 9:51 am