Walt Disney Co, which has been struggling to inject life back into its animation studio, is said to be in talks to acquire Pixar, the hit-making firm behind Finding Nemo, Toy Story and The Incredibles.
The company is reported to be discussing an all-share deal that would pay a modest premium to Pixar's current market value of US$6.7 billion.
If the deal went through, it would make Steve Jobs, Pixar's chairman and the founder of Apple Computers, Disney's biggest individual shareholder.
The report in the Wall Street Journal appeared to confirm months of speculation. Robert Iger, who took over as Disney chief executive from Michael Eisner last October, has made restoring the firm's reputation in animation his No. 1 priority.
Under a seven-film deal, Disney co-funded and distributed Pixar's computer animation movies, also taking a share in their profits. By some estimates the Pixar relationship generated US$1 billion in profits for the company, more than half the Disney film studio earnings over the same period.
But when it came time to discuss renewing the deal, Jobs and Eisner suffered a public and acrimonious falling-out. In June 1994, Pixar said it would open talks with other studios. Pixar's next film, Cars, is the last under the Disney deal.
There have been signs lately that relations between Jobs and Disney have been thawing. At the end of last year, Iger struck a deal allowing Disney-produced shows including Desperate Housewives and Lost to be made available for download on Apple's iPod devices.
Pixar's first film, Toy Story, was an unexpected hit. Released in 1995, it was the first full-length computer animated feature and even its producers were uncertain of the audience reaction. It became the highest grossing film of the year and Pixar has proven reliable since. The studios other hits have included Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life and Monsters Inc.
Meanwhile, Disney's traditional hand-drawn animation business, which had undergone a renaissance with the likes of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, went into an apparently terminal decline. The company suffered a string of flops including Treasure Planet, Atlantis, Brother Bear and Home on the Range.
At the end of last year, Disney released its first home-grown computer animated film, Chicken Little, which had a lukewarm reception by critics and was a modest box office success.
It made a better-than-expected US$40 million at the US box office in its opening weekend, but still fell far short of The Incredibles' US$70 million. Had Chicken Little been a more resounding success it might have taken some of the pressure off Iger to do a deal with Pixar.
In the last quarter Disney reported a US$313 million loss at its film studio, the result of a poor performance by its Miramax subsidiary and low DVD sales. Iger said at the time it was vital to get the animation division back on track.
According to the Journal, the talks are still at a sensitive stage. If Disney did take over Pixar, however, it would further broaden the influence of Jobs, already one of the world's most powerful media tycoons. It's likely he would join the Disney board while John Lasseter, who directed Toy Story, would take an expanded role looking after the Disney animation studio.
However, the two could still settle on a scaled-down distribution agreement.
Disney declined to comment.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique