...September 2015 The Disney Pixar Merger In 2006, Disney announced it was going to acquire Pixar for $7.4 billion. Upon doing so, one of the most successful mergers of the past ten years developed. “The merger brings together Disney’s historic franchise of animated characters with Pixar’s stable of cartoon hits” (La Monica). A lot of time and thought went into deciding how this merger would be prosperous and profitable for all parties involved. Disney wanted to guarantee Pixar’s executives that they would still hold positions of power with the ability to make decisions. They hired Steve Jobs, Pixar’s chief executive, as a non-independent director at Disney and made him one of the largest shareholders in the company. John Lasseter, a director and creative voice at Pixar, took the title as their chief creative officer as well as the creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering. (Holston) There were also high level statuses given to other directors and executives of Pixar at Disney. Promoting Pixar’s executives to equally powerful positions within the company was not the only requirements of the deal. Pixar also wanted their HR policies to remain intact, a steering committee to oversee animation, and all films produced post-merger branded as “Disney Pixar”. These are all just a few of the steps Disney took to merge with Pixar. There are so many positive results that come to mind when considering this merger. Combining with Pixar will give Disney access to their top of the...
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...the information on Disney and Pixar, I came across some differences between Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner regarding how the two companies will work together. Going through the articles that I have read through they all show that Disney and Pixar has always been competing against each other on who can make the best animated motion picture. Here is a little history Disney has always been about producing animated features and live-action movies and as for Pixar they have always produced computer-animated movies. In this paper I will be talking about the Image Change, basis of image, application to Company #1, Company #2, pressures for change, differs from others how and the unintended consequences from Image. Lets begin with the three Images; I choose Director, Navigator and Nurturer. The reason that I choose these three is because of the people that were involved with this merge. There was Steve Jobs who was the President of Pixar and Michael Eisner who was the Chief Executive Office for The Walt Disney Company in 2005, Einser resigned and Robert Iger took his place. These three men I put them down under Director, because they were the ones who were in charge of executing the changes between the two companies. Next is Ed Catmull and David Stainton who were are in charge of making sure that the change occur even though there will be some things that they will not have control over. Third there is John Lassester who is the Cheif Creative office for Disney-Pixar. I put Lassester and...
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...Course Project- Disney and Pixar- The Change Analysis- Images of Change HRM587- Managing Organizational Change DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management July 2014 The Change Analysis- Images of Change Disney used the character of Mickey Mouse and others to create movies that customers enjoyed like “Beauty and the Beast” while Pixar was producing made up animated characters to create films like “Cars” and “Wall-E”. Disney was creating animated movies but struggling to generate the amount of money Pixar was making on producing only one movie a year. Disney wanted to grow in creating more animated movies and decided to buy out Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 million dollars. (Barnes, 2008) According to Disney’s CEO Robert Iger, “The addition of Pixar significantly enhances Disney animation, which is a critical creative engine for driving growth across our businesses.” (La Monica, 2006) This buy out was great for Disney but Pixar had many doubts and hesitation about changes that were to come. Disney and Pixar executives needed to come up with an integration plan that would combine two unique cultures into one. In order to bridge these two cultures together, the organizational structure of the merger was discussed and agreed upon in terms of making both parties happy. The shareholders and stakeholders of both Disney and Pixar recognized that “this acquisition combines Pixar’s preeminent creative and technological resources with Disney’s unparalleled portfolio of...
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...Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies Shonia L. Murphy Dr. Bennett Strayer University Bus 499 Introduction Any public limited company can grow through the process of either organic growth or internal growth or through the process of merger and acquisition. In the following pages two different public limited companies listed in the United States are taken. One of the animation companies has international exposure and a history of merger and acquisition and other solely operating in USA with no history of merger and acquisition. Discussion Walt Disney Company which is commonly known as Disney is an American diversified multinational company that is headquartered at Walt Disney studio in Burbank California. In terms of revenue the company is largest in the world. The business was established by Disney brothers namely Walt and Roy Disney in the year 1923. The company was a leader in the animation industry before it diversified into other ventures. Pixar on the other hand was formed in 1979 by George Lucus and his recruit Ed Catmull. The company was renamed as Pixar when Steve Jobs acquired majority stake in the company in the year 1986. After the demise of Walt and Roy Disney the company lost the initial success that it had with animation films. It was in this time that a series of animation films that were produced by the company did not farewell at the box office and the company suffered losses. On the other hand Pixar’s computer...
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...Management 5301 Walt Disney-Pixar Analysis The Walt Disney-Pixar merger carries a number of convincing advantages for Disney, but Pixar shareholders should be less enthusiastic about such a deal. Pixar’s resources and capabilities have set a standard that is extremely difficult to imitate. Through its highly talented employee pool, culture of creativity and collaboration, and proprietary 3D computer animation software, Pixar has created a competitive advantage in the animation film industry that yielded average total box office sales of $538 million with just six movies. Pixar shareholders should be wary of the potential breakdown of these resources and capabilities, which in essence are its core competencies. While a merger could mean more dollar signs for Pixar, it is more likely to result in the end of a firm whose resources and capabilities lend an advantage in the animation film industry. A renegotiated equity alliance that gives Pixar the chance to earn more than 40% of total profits of a film versus Disney’s 60%.would be a better strategic option for Pixar. Following the VRIO framework, Pixar’s capabilities help exploit opportunities to create value or neutralize threats from the environment. Pixar’s human capital is an extraordinarily valuable asset to the company. With an emphasis on hiring the best and the brightest (most of its technical employees have PhDs) and maintaining a close eye on innovations in the academic world, Pixar positioned itself ahead...
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...Currently, in the world of growing economy and globalization, many businesses on both domestic and international marketplaces struggle to achieve the best market share. Every day business people from top to lower management work to achieve a common goal, being the best at what you do, and getting there as fast as possible. As companies work hard to beat their competitors they accept many tactics to do so. As for my assignment, I have chosen to examine why Disney and Pixar merged as a company. A brief definition of an Acquisition and a merger will be given following with the difference between them. I will be discussing if these two companies were a success or a failure and why and which were their reasons behind this statement. A merger is a combination of two companies, which form a new firm, while an acquisition is the purchase of one company by another in which no new company is formed. Mergers and Acquisitions take place for many strategic business reasons, but most of their reasons are due to economic standards. These are some reasons: Cutting costs: some companies have similar products or services, if they could combine there could be a huge reduce of costs this is an advantage for both firms. Most of the companies, which merge, can combine different opportunities for the best. This economic strategy has to do with economies of scale “reduction in cost per unit resulting from increased production, realized through operational efficiencies” in other words, when the...
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...Pixar Animations MBA 615 Mickey Langford/Kimberly Horne Spring 2013 Mickey Langford Pixar Animations is our company of choice for this case study analysis. In 2006, Walt Disney acquired Pixar, but before we get to all of that, let us start at the beginning. Before Pixar, there was Lucas Films. George Lucas, of Lucas Films, decided in 1979 to upgrade their computer division (Animations, 2012). Lucas had a desire to see how far they could take computer graphics within the film industry. Lucas Films succeeded by creating Andre & Wally B., in 1984 (Animations, 2012). Andre & Wally B. - First Ever Pixar Short Movie - The Adventures of André and Wally B. [1984 HD] - YouTube, was the first ever computer-generated imagery short movie (Movies, 2009). This was the foundational establishment in the film industry that Steve Jobs was seeking. In 1986, Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas Films and named it Pixar Animations Studios. Walt Disney and Pixar Animation agreed to do a number of films together, the first being Toy Story which was a huge success. The movie debut on November 22, 1995 grossed $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide (Animations, 2012). Listed below is a table of the gross amounts that Disney/Pixar movies have made: Released | Movie Name | 1st Weekend | US Gross | Worldwide Gross | Budget | 11/22/1995 | Toy Story | $29,140,617 | $191,796,233 | $361,948,825 | $30,000,000 | 11/20/1998 | A Bug's Life | $291,121...
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...I have chosen the merging of Disney and Pixar to be the topic and focus for my research paper for this course. The reason I chose Disney and Pixar is due to the significant amount of positive commentary I found around this merger while researching a topic for my paper. Upon my research, I consistently landed on articles and research around the success of Disney-Pixar and it being one of the most successful mergers of all time. This sparked my interest and curiosity around what did they do specifically that made them so successful in comparison to others. I imagined that they had to endure a great deal of change with such a large merger and was anxious to research more around the success and learnings they have had. Additionally, Disney has been a company that I have admired for a long time. To provide further context, I have respected their strong performance history and the fascinating culture of the organization. My initial research leads me to believe that Disney allowed Pixar to remain their identity during the acquisition which in turn allowed for the two companies to successful integrate and capitalize off of their synergies. Disney Pixar appears to be a positive example how such a transformational change as a merger can yield growth and increased market power. My goal was to ensure that I find a topic that would maintain my interest through the course of this session as advised and I am confident that this will. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/business/media/01pixar...
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...To what extent is growing through integration with other businesses a good way for a firm to increase its competitiveness? (40 marks) Growing through integration is concerned with mergers and takeovers of two businesses. There are several ways of integrating; Horizontal, which is where the business is in the same industry and or same stage of production, Backward Vertical, which is where it is the same industry towards a supplier, forward vertical, which is where it is the same industry towards the customer and Diversification, which is where the two businesses are totally opposite. Growing through one of the processes of integration can have a massive boost/effect on the competitiveness of a business as firms are able to buy out or merge with other large firms, in either their market place or another, to make one big firms in the market. The main firm will gain a larger percentage of the market at the two original market shares of the business are joint together. An example of this happening is in the mobile phone industry with the merger of Orange and T-mobile. This merger had brought together two of the UK’s biggest mobile phone networks and as a result gained them a combined 30 million customers, which meant they had overtaken O2 as the market leaders with a 37% market share. Furthermore, because of the two networks merging it provided them with a USP as it allowed customers to be able to receive signal of both networks...
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...Lester Electronics Financing Alternative Benchmarking for Bernard Lester University of Phoenix MBA – 540 Introduction In this paper will compare and contrast issues that various companies had experienced in past mergers to the issues presented in the Lester Electronic Scenario. The companies benchmarked are Disney-Pixar, Lucent-Alcatel, Monaco Coach Corporation, SMC Corporation, Infosmart-Cyber Merchants, Fidelity Bank of Nassau, Royal Bank of Canada, and AT&T. One of the issues presented in the scenario is that LEI was preparing to conduct a joint venture with Shang-wa when Transnational Electronics made an offer to acquire Shang-wa. The main issue is that if Shang-wa is acquired by TEC, the joint venture between Shang-wa and LEI will not be possible. LEI intends to remain as the company of choice but this might not be possible if TEC acquires Shang-wa. Some of the concepts that Team A will evaluate considering the LEI scenario issues are: capital management strategies to maximize shareholder wealth, economic exposure, the challenges of cross-border growth strategies, working capital management, and internal and external growth strategies, and cultural barriers, while identify the best financing alternative for the merger. Companies Benchmarked Alcatel-Lucent – Yolanda Smothers Alcatel-Lucent provides telecommunications solutions globally to...
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...acquired by another company, evaluate the strategy that led to the merger or acquisition to determine whether or not this merger or acquisition was a wise choice. Justify your opinion. The merger I choose to research was the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. The merger between Disney and Pixar was a very successful one. They worked together in the past and their contract was running out after the release of Cars. This was the perfect opportunity and sensible move for these two companies to merge. The merger would allow the companies to work together conveniently. This merger was very rewarding allowing the company to put out very successful movies such as WALL-E, Up, and Bolt. They both have high expectations including plans for twice-yearly films. This was not possible before the merger. Disney has been able to give Pixar a boost in the field of advertising, marketing plugs, and merchandising. Disney is the best in the business when it comes to marketing to children. Disney spent $ 7.4 billion to acquire Pixar from Apple’s head Steve Jobs (Monica, 2006). The strategy behind this merger is to continue creating innovative stories, characters, and films that pleases viewers worldwide (Monica, 2006). The acquisition improved Disney’s animation which helps stimulates its growth throughout its businesses. This was a very smart strategic deal that will benefit its theme parks, consumer products, and cable. Disney also obtained ownership of the world’s most famous computer animation...
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...Disney-Pixar Mickey and Nemo. Pinocchio and “Toy Story.” Cinderella and “Cars.” The merger of legendary Walt Disney and everything-we-create-kids-adore Pixar was a match made in cartoon heaven. Disney had released all of Pixar’s movies before, but with their contract about to run out after the release of “Cars,” the merger made perfect sense. With the merger, the two companies could collaborate freely and easily.Did the merger work? Well, take a look at the successful movies that Disney and Pixar have put out since: “WALL-E,” “Up,” and “Bolt.” Pixar has plans for twice-yearly films, unthinkable before the merger, and has certainly gained the expert advice from Disney when it comes to advertising, marketing plugs, and merchandising. When it comes to marketing to children, no one does it better than Disney. Even pre-merger cartoon “Cars” got the Disney treatment and remains a top seller in merchandising amongst 4 year old boys (just ask my nephew). irius/XM radio merger On July 29, 2008, satellite radio officially had one provider when Sirius Satellite Radio joined forces with rival XM Satellite Radio. The merger was officially announced over a year before, in February 2007, but the actual merger was delayed due to one tiny problem – when satellite radio first began in 1997, the FCC granted only two licenses under one condition: that either of the holders would not acquire control of the other.Oops. So Sirius and XM filed the proper paperwork with the FCC, allowed the FCC to...
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...Since 1986 Disney and Pixar collaborated several years on different animation movie projects. The first feature film agreement in 1991 was in total favour for Disney. They agreed to produce three full-length 3D CG animation movies. Disney assumed the expenses of production and owned the movie rights, whereas Pixar received a participation fee of the revenue. At this time Pixar was glad to participate in a partnership and called it going to Disney University. In 1997 the co-production agreement was a more mutual business partnership. Disney bought 5% of Pixar and thus tied Pixar to a 10-year business deal. Steve Jobs, CEO of Pixar, was eager to negotiate new conditions for Pixar in order to receive more favourable economic terms for Pixar. This led to conflicting goal positions of the two companies, which caused a breakdown of the partnership. Pixar had two options: compromising on the business conditions with Disney in order to keep the collaboration or trying to find another suitable business partner. On the contrary, Disney thought about acquiring the company Pixar. Disney´s main strategy was to get into the animations business with the new CG technology. Therefore, the main reasons for an acquisition were the valuable assets of the innovative technology of Pixar. The unique selling point of Pixar, the own 3D computer-generated animation technology, positioned the company ahead of the competitors on the market. Furthermore, the three technologies RenderMan,...
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...Walt Disney-Pixar Merger Brief Industry Analysis Because of the technology nowadays, one successful film can be distributed all over the world, which is in a form of motion pictures or DVD. Animation is one media that is spread all over the world; push it to be one of fastest growing industry. The demand for the animation is increasing from the emerging number of cables and satellite TV and the popularity of The Internet. In addition, in the past, the target market of the animation industry was just kids, but now, it expands market to cover all ages of customers. The companies can be range from a big company such as Walt Disney to an individual artist with a PC. The trend of the industry has changed from drawing and photographs, which is labor-intensive, to using computer technology in order to create the realistic and higher quality pictures. However, producing the animation is still labor intensive and take a long time, this push the cost of production to be high. Therefore, now we see the trend of outsourcing the production from North America to Asia Pacific area, which has a lower cost, high quality computer animation production, and lower cost. Walt Disney Company Overview Walt Disney is one of the leading companies in the world that provides entertainment experience since its founding in 1923. Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries and partner have four business segments, which are media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, and consumer...
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...The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc. To Acquire or Not to Acquire? Andrii Alekseienko Corporate Strategy Case Study 18 September, 2015 The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc. To Acquire or Not to Acquire? To answer the main question of the case, we must think of the main problems that it faces. We need to find the solution for Bob Iger. What to do with Disney: to make some improvements in the existed company to compete better with Pixar, or to make a deal with another studio? Or should he work more with Pixar, or maybe just buy the whole company? To answer this questions, I will use two tools: better-off test and ownership test. At first, Disney and Pixar can just stay at the same place, and make some reorganization in the company. But in this case, it’s gonna be hard, because this option requires a big amount of time and finance. Restructuring the company can take place to improve the system of enterprise management, changing economic and financial policies, operations, marketing systems, marketing and human resource management in order to improve the company. It’s a possible, but definitely not the best option. Of course, the acquisition between Disney and Pixar have some advantages for Disney, but it’s not so good for Pixar, because their technology is unique, and different to the other players on the market. Because of company’s corporate culture and the talents of their employees. If we talk about famous animated films and unique solutions, both in technology...
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