Disney-Pixar Deal to Close by Late April, May

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co.'s planned purchase of Pixar Animation Studios Inc. likely will close in late April or May, Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs said on Friday at the company's annual meeting. Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger faced Disney shareholders for the first time since taking his post in October, making the Pixar acquisition the centerpiece of this presentation. Under the transaction, Disney will cede control of its animating studio to Pixar creative chiefs Ed Catmull and John Lasseter. The hands-off management arrangement is akin to the one Disney employed with the ESPN cable sports network, which Disney acquired in 1996. In his remarks at the meeting, Lasseter obliquely touched on the years of rancorous negotiations he, Pixar President Ed Catmull and Pixar Chief Executive Steve Jobs had with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. "When Bob Iger came to the three of us and said we are interested in acquiring you ... I was worried until I got to know Bob Iger," Lasseter said. "Ladies and gentlemen, you are led by a great man." Lasseter also showed the first sneak previews of the upcoming Pixar films, "Cars," set for its theatrical release in June 2006, and "Ratatouille," scheduled to be released in the summer of 2007. While not revealing any specific plans for Disney animation, Lasseter said that he believed the Imagineering department, to which he will become a creative advisor, should work more closely with animation. "I never understood why you wouldn't start designing a ride when you start making a film so two months after a film comes out you have a ride," Lasseter said. "I promise you we are not only going to make great motion pictures we are going to make great rides."

A preliminary tally of shareholder ballots showed that all 13 board members were reelected by a 94 percent margin, despite a recommendation from shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis that stockholders withhold their votes from longtime board Chairman George Mitchell. Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that all board members be reelected. Shareholder proposals dealing with anti-takeover strategies and labor standards in the company's Chinese operations were rejected, as recommended by the board. Iger at the meeting also responded to questions from Disneyland workers, who are in the midst of labor talks with the company over contract changes that include raising the minimum number of hours worked weekly to qualify for benefits to 30 from 25. "I know that increasing it from 25 is causing some tension but what we have on the table with the union is not different from what other union members have accepted (at other parks)," he told a Disneyland worker and shareholder. Shares of Disney closed up 7 cents to $28.16 on the New York Stock Exchange. Pixar shares closed up 26 cents at $64.45.