Zardon

In a decisive move, Steve Jobs, CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, pulled the plug in late January on discussions about the company's marketing and distribution deal with Walt Disney.

Citing failure to strike a deal after 10 months of negotiations, Jobs said it was unlikely that the two partners would reconcile their differences and that it was time to move on.

Coming after a string of successful Pixar-Disney releases, the announcement set off a storm of speculation in Hollywood and on Wall Street about Pixar's future and about potential replacement partners for the company. Many noted that the long-standing animosity between Jobs and Disney CEO Michael Eisner probably contributed to the break-off of the talks and wondered about the terms Pixar, given its extraordinary run so far, might demand of any new partner.

In an earnings conference call on Feb. 4, Pixar executives announced that the firm had almost quintupled its fourth-quarter earnings, compared with the same period the previous year. Much of that boost came from the runaway success of its most recent blockbuster film, "Finding Nemo." According to CNNmoney, the animation studio has augmented Disney's profits to the tune of $1 billion so far. Profits notwithstanding, making a deal on Jobs' terms may have proved too much for the equally strong-willed Michael Eisner. Jobs had been trying to negotiate a new agreement, whereby Pixar would receive a larger share of the take from both upcoming releases and as-yet unmade films.

Meanwhile, Eisner's own future seems to be uncertain. On Feb. 11, Comcast, the largest cable company in the United States, offered an unsolicited $54 billion bid for Disney, sending the companies' shares up, as Wall Street considered the prospect of a bidding war. In response, Disney released quarterly earnings slightly earlier than expected, beating analysts' estimates. Two former Disney board members, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, have called for Eisner to step down, and it is unlikely that Eisner would have a place in the new company, should Comcast succeed in its bid, some analysts say.

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