ST Would George Lucas ever consider buying back his company?

Only 20 billion left, you will get there.

 

Well, Disney wanted a cheap sequel to Toy Story, but Pixar insisted on doing it their way.....but the Cars sequel wasn't quite as good, and Planes was a shameful rehash.

But yes, Toy Story 3 was very good...even I was worried about what was going to happen to the toys in the incinerator.

 

Disney wouldn't sell it back to him for $8 billion - double what he was given for it. Disney buying LFL for $4 billion was an absolute steal. Almost seems criminal. (not really)

 

Almost slavery you would say?

 

Well no... George sold completely voluntarily. And made himself an extremely wealthy man in the deal.

 

Has Disney ever sold any IP? I think they would have to go belly up before they would let go of anything.

Lucas' net worth before the sale was already 3.2 billion.

 

Hopefully not.

I doubt Disney would let him do that anyway.

 

Its doubtlessly crossed his mind sellers remorse and what not, but I highly doubt that he could afford to pay what Disney would want for the company.

 

His net worth was based in the fact that he was the sole owner of LFL.. He did not have that in cash. Now he has cash and stock.

 

Now he's at 5.1 billion net worth. Exactly how much cash does he have now compared to then?

 

So now we have another such thread, this one posing an absurd hypothetical that hasn’t a hope in hell of ever occurring.

 

Disney wants to rule the world...

That's all that you really need to know.... In other words, no. It will never happen.

 

1. The "white slavers" comment was made before he saw TFA and did not refer to Kathy Kennedy, JJ, Kasdan, et al.
2. If you watch the full Charlie Rose interview, he makes his rationale for selling clear. Not only did he not want to spend another ten years creating three new movies, he also wanted to focus on new projects. Specifically, small art house films that are not commercially viable and that he's unwilling to release. Pursuing those projects would have been unfair to his employees, etc.
3. Not for sale
4. Disney would never sell it back for 4 billion. The price would be far higher.
5. He's a major stockholder

 

Why would Disney even think about selling it back?

 

An interesting opinion, but one not shared by pretty much anybody else. Considering 95% of people and critics roughly liked or loved the movie, which is the highest of any of the 7 Star Wars films on first release by far, I'm not really sure what you're talking about. It's fine to have an opinion, but to extrapolate said opinion to the larger picture when your opinion is completely out of line with what everyone else thinks... not so much.

Lucasfilm isn't for sale and Disney wouldn't even consider parting with it, nor would Lucas want that. It makes no sense. It would just be weird.

Also, no, there wouldn't be any clause in any contract about "not firing any employees," that's the silliest thing I've ever heard. ANY employees? HAHA. You cannot run a business that way, and no company would agree to buy another company with such ridiculous demands.

 

Actually, when such deals are done it isn't that uncommon for there to be a clause limiting the buying company from firing certain or all employees for a limited amount of time. It is rare that it is all employees, but there is almost certainly a clause limiting their ability to fire Kathleen Kennedy.

 

I will say that it's true that Disney fell into a commercial and critical hole in the '70s. SW represented the path to renewed success, and they tried to replicate that, first with The Black Hole and then with TRON. Neither did the job. The relatively short-lived animation renaissance of 1989-1994 was the company's last moment of glory in the wake of Walt's death.

The situation you have now is that, while on paper Disney owns Pixar, in reality Pixar is basically the creative heart of Disney animation, and Pixar's existence is a direct result of SW; meanwhile, SW itself was the company's biggest money-spinner last year. The Lucas-led revolution of the '70s ended up winning in the end--"Disney" may be the name on the tin, but the truth is that Lucas' legacy (and Jobs', too) is in the driver's seat now.