The Pixar Buy - Disney’s Creative Mojo?

After a shareholder revolt in March 2004, Eisner was stripped off his role as Chairman of Disney and continued to operate as CEO. There was intense pressure on him to step down as many felt that he had failed to re-establish the creative soul of Disney which stood for technological innovation in animation and creative story telling.

Eisner was also blamed for his repressive management style which led to loss of employee morale and exit of talented executives from Disney. Moreover, in 2005, Pixar announced that it would not renew its six film deal with Disney which was ending in 2006.

Iger, Eisner’s successor, seems to have made the right moves since he took over the reigns at the ‘Magic Kingdom’. He was quick to capitalize on the iPod mania and in a revolutionary deal in October 2005, Disney allowed on iTunes video downloads of hit ABC shows such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost”.

As on January 2006, over eight million videos had been sold. Iger also got along well with Jobs on a personal level which was good for the success of this combined entity. However a few media experts were skeptical of the long term feasibility of this marriage. Pixar had an open and unrestricted culture where hierarchy and bureaucracy were non-existent.

Disney on the other hand was a huge company and creative decisions were driven down from the top. While some experts felt that Pixar could be stifled by Disney, others opined that even Disney could learn a thing or two from Pixar. A few analysts also felt that Disney could push Pixar’s creative team to churn out one movie per year which could affect its creative quality. Only time will tell as to what would be the outcome of this deal and whether Pixar will indeed turn out to be Disney’s mojo at the box office.

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