Hong Kong Parade Clinched Decision to Buy Pixar

(Bloomberg News) – Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger decided to buy Pixar while watching a parade at the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, he said. Disney, home of Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Cinderella, hadn't created any recognizable animated characters in the past decade, Iger said at a Bear Stearns & Co. media conference broadcast on the Internet. The recent animated characters in the parade were from Pixar, Steve Jobs' animation studio, which Iger agreed in January to buy for $7.4 billion. "It really hit me hard that we had had 10 years of failure," Iger said. "Keeping anima-tion strong is incredibly vital." Animation "creates more of a ripple effect" than any other business at Dis-ney, the world's second-largest media company, Iger said Monday at the conference in Palm Beach. Characters from Pixar's Toy Story movies create opportunities for merchandising and theme-park rides, such as the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride at the Hong Kong park, which opened in September. Iger also said he will spend more money to strengthen the Disney, ABC and ESPN brands. Disney will invest in branded content and technology, and alter existing business relationships to provide content delivery methods consumers want, he said. The potential for Disney's theme-park business is "enormous" be-cause the unit represents less than 5 percent of the family vacation market, Iger said. The company is seeking branding agreements for the parks and plans to invest more money in the business, he added.