dead men tell no tales...

John over at The Disney Blog continues to impress me, keeping his eyes and ears open. It appears Steve Jobs might be willing to sell Pixar to Disney.

This is an interesting concept in and of itself... what makes Pixar so great is the talent there, including Jobs. What kind of guarantee would there be that those people in the Emeryville campus across the street from my old stomping grounds wouldn't just up and jump ship as soon as Jobs leaves the building? I'm no scholar of business law... I'm not sure just how you could legally require those artists, animators, and programmers to stay...

At any rate, if the asking price truly is in the neighborhood of 5 billion dollars, I have to echo John's plea that the numbers get crunched... and crunched... and crunched... and crunched again, because ABC Family is not exactly the triumph Eisner thought it would be when he paied Rupert Murdoch and Haim Saban something like 4 billion for it.

Of course, if it were to happen, then official Disney media (like the 2005 Walt Disney World Planning Guide DVD Heather and I watched... again... on Sunday) would be able to stop referring to Pixar movies as "A Walt Disney Pictures Presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios Film, Finding Nemo" (or A Bug's Life or Toy Story or etc...)

I also have to wonder if this has anything to do with the rumors... picking up steam... of Jobs considering a run for Sacramento? Leaving a public company like Apple would be easy enough if Jobs was serious about a political career, but first, he'd have to divest himself of his ownership in any major company.

Plus, $5 billion can buy a lot of campaign fliers...

posted by Steve  # 10:33 AM