How Pixar Save Disney

Disney was consistently giving surprises to their fans, not only in their movies but also in the real world. One of the surprises from Disney was the acquisition of Pixar. Since the acquisition process of Pixar was fascinating and heartwarming at the same time, this article will try to picture every wrinkle behind it.

The Up and Down of Walt Disney as Animated Corporation

The Walt Disney Company establishes in 1923 by Walt and Roy Disney. At that time, Walt has successfully proved that he is not only an outstanding animator but also a great innovator. The most remarkable works his done is creating a short movie with the title “Alice in Wonderland”. In this show, he successfully introduces a movie that combines animation and lives action which is a massive innovation at that time.

Sadly in 1966, Walt Disney died at the age of 65. The death of Walt is followed by many senior animators who choose to retire, and this opens a new era of Disney animated. In 1984, Michael Eisner became the CEO of Disney corporation, and he did not need a long time after his appointment to resurrect the company. As the new CEO, he succeeded in replicating the previous success through the new Disney movie.

The glorious time of Walt Disney came to an end when the new era brings 3D animation to the public, with Pixar and Dreamwork as the real contender for animated movies. At the same time, the energy and creativity from Disney have reduced drastically. The biggest Disney problem came from its CEO, Michael Eisner, who reportedly conduct lousy behavior in the Disney internal team. He is arrogant and micro-managing, make people around him did not have space to show their creativity.

In 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner as Disney CEO, and soon he realizes that Disney was too dependent on the old character like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Disney did not have a new character to lead the Disney brand to its success in the present and future. Disney must find an instant solution to solve this problem, such as buying an animated studio that has already been tested. At that time, two companies might be a solution, Pixar and Dreamworks, and the choice fell on Pixar.

The Origins of Pixar

Pixar started as a division of computer graphics in Lucasfilm. At that time, their task was to create a special effect for all movies produced by Lucasfilm. However, when Lucasfilm has a financial problem, George Lucas chooses to sell the division named Pixar. George Lucas admits that he is struggling when finding a buyer for Pixar; he gets rejected 45 times before steve Jobs came and gave Pixar a new life. Pixar did not work well initially, so Steve Jobs need to inject fresh funds into the company. The capital injection also makes Steve Job the majority shareholder with more than 50% of the shares.

In 1991, Pixar got a contract from Disney to make three computer-animated films worth 26 million dollars. Pixar writes stories and produces films, while Disney provides funding and distribution. The first film of this deal was Toy Story, a film that immediately became Box Office everywhere. The success of Pixar movies has made Disney extend the contract from three films to five films over the span of ten years. Then Pixar released bugs life, Toys Story 2, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. All of these films were huge successes and saved Disney from its financial problems.

The Acquisition of Pixar

Behind the success of the Pixar films, the Disney CEO had a feud with Steve Jobs, who was then CEO of Pixar. The great conflict led to the breakdown of relations between Disney and Pixar. At this point, Bob Iger, the new Disney CEO, saw Pixar as the best solution for Disney, so from day one as CEO, he tried to convince Disney’s board of directors that acquiring Pixar was the best option. After successfully convincing the Disney board of directors, Bob Iger faced an even more formidable challenge, convincing Steve Jobs to sell Pixar to Disney.

The beginning of Iger’s approach to Steve Jobs did not go smoothly because Steve Jobs was not interested in working with Disney again, until one day, Iger tried to convey his intention to buy Pixar. Unexpectedly, Steve Jobs responded positively to this intention and invited Iger to hold a meeting related to this transaction. Steve Jobs and his colleagues at Pixar included several points as conditions for the transaction. Pixar would remain independent, separate from Disney, and Pixar had the freedom to work. Two things that Bob Iger directly agreed.

When the signing day of the acquisition, just after noon, Steve Jobs pulled Bob Iger aside and said, “Let’s take a walk.” Bob Iger said that at that time, he was surprised about Steve Jobs’s request. He knew Steve Jobs liked to go on long walks, but not at the timing like that. He wondered whether Steve Jobs wanted to back out of the deal or renegotiate its terms.

Steve Jobs and Bob Iger walked for a while and then sat on a bench in the middle of Pixar’s beautiful, manicured grounds. Steve Jobs put his arm behind Bob, which was a nice, unexpected gesture. He said, “I’m going to tell you something that only my wife and my doctors know, but I asked you a complete confidentiality.” Then Steve Jobs said that his cancer had returned.

Bob Iger reply by saying, “Steve, why are you telling me this now? I am about to become your biggest shareholder and a member of your board, and I think I owe you the right, given this knowledge, to back out of the deal.”

Bob Iger continues by saying, “Steve, in less than 30 minutes we are set to announce a seven-plus billion-dollar deal. What would I tell our board, that I got cold feet?” at that time, Steve Jobs advise Bob to blame all to him, if he chooses to cancel the transaction.

Steve Jobs told Bob that the cancer was now in his liver, and he talked about the odds of beating it. However, Steve Jobs said that he would do whatever it took to be at his son Reed’s high school graduation, which will take place in the next four years. In the limited time, Bob Iger choose to continue the transaction sealed the deal.

Now, ten years after Steve Jobs was gone, Pixar still became Disney’s best investment, and both Steve Jobs and Bob Iger taking a significant role in Disney history.