Now That's A Venture Return (continued)

Prompted by my post on Job’s fantastic venture return on his investment in Pixar, a reader sent me a link to this interesting analysis of the value of Pixar to Disney that ran in Slate last October.

This paragraph was the most interesting to me:

Steve Jobs, as head of Pixar Animation Studios, has handed Disney four of the potentially richest mother lodes in the history of filmdom. Namely, the sequel rights to Toy Story; Finding Nemo; Monsters, Inc.; and The Incredibles. These franchises are particularly lucrative because they have no stars, directors, or other gross players entitled to a share of the take. Disney also has the exclusive rights to use all of the Pixar characters in its theme parks.

The article goes on to explain why Disney and Pixar remained tied together even after Jobs refused to sign another distribution deal with them.  Which sort of explains why the merger happened.

I am sure there’s more to it than what’s in this Slate article, but its good reading nonetheless for those who are interested in the movie business and how to create value.  Jobs certainly created a lot of that for himself and the other Pixar shareholders.