2 Really Important Lessons From The Disney-Pixar Acquisition

Disney acquired Pixar for 7.4B$ in 2006.

When Disney was planning to buy Pixar — Steve Jobs and Bob Iger (then Disney CEO) sat in a conference room that had a 50 feet long whiteboard.

They noted down the pros and cons of the acquisition.

There were about 3 pros and 20 cons. Looking at it Bob felt the acquisition cannot happen.

(Bob was newly appointed as CEO and desperately wanted to turn Disney’s animation around. In fact, it was his idea to acquire Pixar.)

Steve Jobs being Steve Jobs had this incredible ability to come to the essence of the deal. He was able to declutter all the noise and said we should do this.

They together convinced everyone in spite of a lot of hurdles.

Bob did this even though the deal made Steve Jobs the largest independent shareholder of Disney and Steve could potentially control Disney in spite of Bob being the CEO.

Two key lessons —

1. Coming to the essence of something is a really important skill to have. (3 pros outweighed the 20 cons).

2. Doing what is best for the company is more important than what is best for you.