BigShinyThing

Wednesday 1 February 2006

Disney buys Pixar. But is that just Steve Job’s first step on the road to a convergence empire?

Online pundit Robert X. Cringely thinks Disney’s purchase of Pixar heralds Steve Job’s next crusade: the creation of a content/technology/channel brand fit for the 21st century — in exactly the way that dotcom burnouts like Time Warner/AOL (um) weren’t:

So the sale to Disney gives Jobs a smaller piece of a bigger pie and therefore much easier liquidity. But it also gives him the chance to nag Disney into the 21st century, as I am sure he will. Strong minority shareholders tend to clash with management (look at Ross Perot with General Motors and Ted Turner with Time-Warner), and Jobs will do the same with Disney. He’ll push to end Disney’s partnership with Microsoft, to bring Disney into the Apple-Intel alliance, and potentially try for some partnership with Sony, too. It’s the start of a grand amalgamation based around a combination of content, technology, and networking, and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see it end as a single huge company five years from now with Jobs at the helm.

Just as Gil Amelio should have at Apple, Robert Iger from Disney had better be looking over his shoulder.

Posted by Darrell Berry | Tags: apple, Disney, future, Pixar, Steve Jobs

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