Pixar and Walt Disney Merger Essay Example

Pixar and Walt Disney Merger Paper NEW YORK Mickey Mouse and Nemo are now corporate cousins. Walt Disney has announced that it is buying Pixar, the animated studio led by Apple head Steve Jobs, in a deal worth $7. 4 billion. Speculation about a deal being imminent raged on Wall Street for the past few weeks. Disney has released all of Pixars films so far, but the companies current distribution deal was set to expire following the release of this summers Cars. The merger brings together Disneys historic franchise of animated characters, such as Mickey, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck, with Pixars stable of cartoon hits, including the two Toy Story films, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Disney and Pixar can now collaborate without the barriers that come from two different companies with two different sets of shareholders, said Jobs in a statement. Now, everyone can focus on what is most important, creating innovative stories, characters and films that delight millions of people around the world. As part of the deal, J obs will become a board member of Disney, the companies said. And John Lasseter, the highly respected creative director at Pixar who had previously worked for Disney, will rejoin the House of Mouse as chief creative officer for the companys combined animated studios and will also help oversee the design for new attractions at Disney theme parks. The addition of Pixar significantly enhances Disney animation, which is a critical creative engine for driving growth across our businesses, said Disney CEO Robert Iger in a written statement. During a conference call with analysts Tuesday, Iger said that acquisition discussions had been going on for the past several months. Jobs added that after a lot of soul searching, he came to the conclusion that it made the most sense for Pixar to align itself with Disney permanently instead of trying to distribute films on its own or sign with another movie studio partner. According to the terms of the deal, Disney (Research) will issue 2. 3 shares for each Pixar share. Based on Tuesdays closing prices, that values Pixar at $59. 78 a share, about a 4 percent premium to Pixars current stock price. Shares of Pixar (Research) fell slightly in regular trading on the Nasdaq Tuesday but gained nearly 3 percent in after-hours trading. The stock has surged more than 10 percent so far this year on takeover speculation. Disneys stock gained 1. 8 percent in regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange and was flat after-hours. Prior to the deals announcement, some Wall Street observers had speculated that Disney may be paying too much for Pixar. A source tells FORTUNE that some Disney board members also thought the price was too high. To that end, Disney chief financial officer Thomas Staggs said during the conference call that the deal would reduce Disneys earnings slightly in fiscal 2006, which ends this September, as well as fiscal 2007. We will write a custom essay sample on Pixar and Walt Disney Merger specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Pixar and Walt Disney Merger specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Pixar and Walt Disney Merger specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He added though that Pixar should add to earnings by fiscal 2008 and that Disney was still on track to post annual double-digit percentage gains in earnings through 2008. But one hedge fund manager said that the risk of Disney losing Pixar was too great. The question isnt did Disney pay too much but how expensive would it have been for Disney if Pixar fell into someone elses hands, said Barry Ritholtz, chief investment officer with Ritholtz Capital Partners, a hedge fund that focuses on media and technology stocks. Jeffrey Logsdon, an analyst with Harris Nesbitt, agreed with that assessment. He said that Pixars success quotient justified the price of the deal. Pixar has yet to have a flop with its six animated movies. They have grossed more than $3. 2 billion worldwide, according to movie tracking research firm Box Office Mojo. Disney, however, has struggled in the computer-generated animated movie arena. Even though its most recent CG-animated film, Chicken Little performed better than many had expected at the box office, it was not as big a hit as any of the Pixar films. Robert Iger has made no secret of the fact that he wanted to get the animated business back to where it was. Its what Disney has known for but the movies they did in-house did not do as well as the ones they did with Pixar, said Michael Cuggino, a fund manager who owns about 100,000 shares of Disney in the Permanent Portfolio and Permanent Portfolio Aggressive Growth funds. Pixar has yet to announce what movies it is working on after Cars, however. It is believed that Pixars next film about a rat living in a fancy Parisian restaurant, tentatively titled Ratatouille may be released on 2007 and that a Toy Story 3 may be in the works as well. Jobs said during the conference call that nothing has been decided about future Pixar releases yet, but added that the company feels strongly about making sequels to some of its previous hits. And Iger said that announced plans for Disney-produced animated films, including the release of American Dog in 2008 and Rapunzel Unbraided in 2009, are still on track. It would have been unthinkable to imagine Disney and Pixar teaming up just a few years ago. The two companies broke off talks to extend their current distribution agreement in 2004 due to a strained relationship between Jobs and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. But since Iger succeeded Eisner last year, he has extended an olive branch to Jobs. Disney and Apple have already announced several online programming deals during the past few months. Disney now has agreements in place to sell hit ABC prime time shows, such as Desperate Housewives and Lost, as well as content from ABC Sports and ESPN on Apples popular iTunes music and video store. Cuggino said the addition of Jobs, who will also become Disneys largest individual shareholder, to Disneys board could mean that more innovative digital deals could be in the works. Jobs is a dynamic personality who knows consumer electronics. Its an opportunity to bring some youthful energetic thinking to Disneys board. Disney, like many other large media companies, has seen its stock price stagnate during the past year as investors have flocked to more rapidly growing digital media firms such as Apple as well as search engines Google (Research) and Yahoo! Research) But Logsdon said the acquisition of Pixar could help Disney increase revenue throughout all of its business lines. So even though some may be quibbling in the short-term about how much Disney had to spend, he thinks Disney made the right move. Its a smart strategic deal, Logsdon said. The benefit in theme parks, consumer products and cable will probably make this deal look a lot smarter a year or two from now.

How to Write an Essay Topic - College Essay Topics

How to Write an Essay Topic - College Essay TopicsIf you want to have the ability to write an essay, then you will need to write on a college essay topic. For many students, the idea of writing an essay has been intimidating.You may be wondering what a college topic is, but even if you don't know what it is, you should know that you can find many college topics in bookstores and on the internet. Once you find your college topic, you'll need to choose what level you want to work on. When you do this, you will also have to choose the format for your essay.When you are choosing a college topic, it's a good idea to have a good idea of what type of content you want to write. There are many things that you may need to include in your topic, such as what your major is, what your major interests are, and other details. Once you've done all of this, you can start researching.Since there are many colleges to choose from, you will find that the best colleges for you to write an essay on are the ones with the most interesting topics. Once you've found the ones that fit this description, then you should start by choosing the topic itself. This is often a very fun task because you'll get to work with the topic and it won't be as boring as you thought it would be. When you have an idea of what type of college topic you want to write, it will make it much easier to find college essay topics.When you're choosing your topic, you'll want to choose one that is similar to the type of college you are going to attend. Of course, you can change the topic whenever you feel like it. Since this is a topic that you are going to write on, you will want to choose something that's very personal.By doing this, you will find that you'll have a lot more fun working on the college topic because it won't be so impersonal. Many students find that this is a very good idea because they like to feel that they are expressing themselves. Of course, this doesn't mean that you will write a subpar essay; rather, you should use the topic as a basis for what type of essay you will write.When you want to find out how to write an essay topic, you should start looking at the samples that have been written by other students. When you do this, you'll find that there are many different college topics available online. Once you have the examples that you want, you should continue to look at these samples and see what kind of writing you think you might like to do.When you are trying to figure out how to write an essay topic, you will find that there are many samples to choose from. Once you've chosen one that is right for you, then you should look at the examples that have been written by other students. By doing this, you will soon find that you can start writing your own college topic.

Honda vs Toyota essays

Honda vs Toyota essays Honda and Toyota have been two leading competitors in the automobile business for several decades. Both being rivals in the foreign Japanese market and in the United States as well. Over the years, both have created compact cars, sport utility vehicles, sports cars, minivans, mid-sized vans, and hybrids. These two companies have flourished in the American automobile industry and have gained the loyalty of many customers. Now a days, cars have to meet strict emission laws based on California criteria due to the high level of pollution. The government has even had to step into the industry making manufacturers produce cars with catalytic converters. Toyota and Honda have taken these aspects into affect by creating the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla. Honda has actually set the standard for the compact car, making the Civic one of the most U.L.E.V (Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles) in the industry. Toyota on the other hand has set the standard for the mid-sized vehicle with the Camry. Ev er since Toyota introduced the Camry sedan in 1983, it has become the best passenger car for the last four years in America. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Honda Civic and the Toyota Camry received the best overall ratings in each of their class. Thus, creating a tense competition in the automobile industry. In the past few years, consumers have demanded more and more cars that are not only affordable, but also fuel-efficient. This rise in demand is due to the changing factors in the taste of the buyers, the rise in population, the rise income, the rise in prices of substitutes, and the drop in the prices of complement products and services. Honda and Toyota have both made quite a sum of money by taking advantage of the opportunity of these rises in demand. These rises in demand have made sales in both companies double within the past decade. As times change, people and their tastes change as well. Every year, Honda and To...

Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Project - Essay Example Open door policy helps staff acknowledge the importance of parents as the primary caretakers of a child. The staff needs to be friendly and approachable. In an early childhood setting, it is important to develop relationships between parents and a childcare worker, which are based on trust (Whalley, 2003). The study was conducted with five sets of parents who all live in an inner city community, and are from different background and cultures, who were interviewed using a prepared interview guide. Their responses were analysed to determine the school experience, home structure, and the home–school relationships developed by parents to promote high academic achievement among their children. The result of this study shows the contribution of parents towards the academic achievements of children and thereby the need of successful interaction between parents and staff to share strategies Therefore, what occurs at home has a significant impact on what happens in school. This relationship will assist parents support their children to achieve their full learning potential. My research focused on the role of parent involvement in increasing the child’s intellectual capacity, attitudes, and academic achievement across all subject areas of the National Curriculum. Based on information from the National Child Development, my study found that the involvement of parents improved children’s prospects at school (Buchanan, 2001). Parents are the most important people in a child’s life because they are the people who matter most to him/her. Communication between the school and the parents must be maintained throughout a child’s time in school (Burnham, 2002). Therefore, the staff working in the setting should communicate and encourage the registered parents all the time to meet the needs of the children. Communicating with parents can be verbal or in the form of a written letter.

Rbv2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rbv2 - Research Paper Example John Lewis too experienced negative sales and at one point in the year 2009 it was below the average of the British Retail Consortium. During this time, John Lewis experienced a serious fundamental difficulty in the UK market. Even though the company had a massive rational affinity, its emotional affinity as well popularity was dwindling. The result was that the retail shop underwent a period of relatively low share of the wallet of its target customer. For the past few years, John Lewis has developed and implemented an assortment of resources aimed at giving it a competitive advantage over other retail shops in the industry. (Barney, 1991) in the Resource Based Review (RBV) argues that companies and organisations should put more investment on the capabilities and resources that they deem, able to propel them towards achieving a sustainable and realistic competitive advantage hence boosting their performance. Resources can be defined as stocks of available factors owned by a firm (Amit et al, 1993). On the other hand, ‘capabilities’ is defined as the ease of an organization to coordinate different tasks while using the available resources to attain a set objective (Helfat et al, 2003). John Lewis developed a more sophisticated e-commerce website that has advanced functionalities and services than those of its competitors. The company management ensures the online store is frequently updated with product information as it may appeal to potential customers. Additionally, John Lewis embarked on a serious online campaign and social network marketing. For instance in Dec 2009 basically the Christmas period, the company introduced more sectional and emotional ads that generated huge leads to back to the online store as well as physical store visits. Its ad campaign named ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ has made the company to outperform in the UK

Anne Sexton Literary Essay Example for Free

Anne Sexton Literary Essay Anne Sexton transforms the well-known fairytale Snow White into a sardonic piece of writing that reflects societal perceptions of the woman. In her poem she explores the idea that a woman is nothing more than a doll, something that sits pretty on a shelf for all to admire. She also describes the reliance on men, and how women are becoming dependent and incompetent. She counteracts this with a women’s intelligence compared to her beauty and vanity, and what a woman should be. She explores the idea of beauty and vanity going hand in hand, meaning that even princesses can be vain. Fairytales aren’t real, and they are overrated- happily ever after does not exist, especially for those who aren’t beautiful. All fairytales have a female antagonist, and one that is usually a princess. Snow White is sexualized as the virgin. Good Day Mama,  and shut for the thrust  of the unicorn. She is unsoiled. She is as white as a bonefish. (9-13) This text explains that she innocent and untouched. All that matters to a prince is that she is beautiful and a virgin. A brand new doll with porcelain skin and glassy eyes. cheeks as fragile as cigarette paper, arms and legs made of Limoges, lips like Vin Du Rhà ´ne, rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and shut. (3-7) Sexton compares Snow White to a doll because she is merely an object for ones admiration and love. She is to be pampered and taken care of in return of sitting pretty on the shelf, to be admired. Beauty and vanity play the two-sided coin in this poem, you can’t have one without the other. The queen epitomizes vanity, when she asks the mirror who is the fairest of the land. When the reply is Snow White, she is outraged. Being the most beautiful person in the land is what the queen desires. She craves the attention because beauty is so valued, and Sexton makes that clear. If Snow White or the Queen weren’t beautiful, would anyone ever notice them? Sexton says,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Beauty is a simple passion.† Meaning everyone desires beauty, so those who have it are more noticed. Because Snow White is beautiful, both the prince and the dwarves value her. But with beauty comes vanity, and that is something that Sexton believes in. She believes women should be active and intelligent; beauty is just a faà §ade that relieves women of reaching their full potential. If a woman is beautiful, she can be just as successful as a smart woman without doing all the work because she can rely on men. Any man will want a beautiful wife that does not interfere with his matters. This is what the prince seeks, and finds when he falls in love with Snow White only for her beauty. He stayed so long his hair turned green and still he would not leave. The dwarfs took pity upon him and gave him the glass Snow White its dolls eyes shut forever to keep in his far-off castle. Sexton believes all women should work to be smart, and beauty is no reason not to achieve that. Snow White is unintelligent because she keeps opening the door to the queen even when the dwarfs urge her not too. Her unintelligence is linked to her reliance on a man because she ends up in the happily-ever-after position as the wife of a prince even though she did nothing to deserve it. But what Sexton is trying to show us at the end of the poem that Snow White is now obsessed with herself and her status, and that she will one day be the queen that tries to kill the next young beauty. Meanwhile Snow White held court, rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and shut and sometimes referring to her mirror as women do. The fairytale ending is fictional. The world isn’t Prince Charmings, beautiful princesses, and evil queens that always lose. ‘The End’ isn’t ever the end because it’s a cycle of innocence, beauty, vanity, and then ultimately envy. Beautiful women are nothing more than an item; they rely on men and are not intelligent. They are envious, and full of vanity. The  perfect women doesn’t exist, and there will never be a happily ever after.

Human Resources and Competitive Performance :: Business HR

The Human Resources department contributes to an organization’s competitive performance through: recruitment and selection, globalization and technology. Recruitment and Selection An organization's success depends on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of its employees, particularly as they help establish competencies which distinguishes one organization from its competitors and other organizations. When an organization has employees with talents that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate an organization can achieve a continued competitive advantage. In order to "compete through people", an organization has to be able to do a good job of managing their human capital: the knowledge, skills, and capabilities that add value to the organizations (Mathis and Jackson, 2003). Human Resources and Managers must work together to develop strategies for identifying, recruiting, and hiring the best talent available. Through recruiting and selecting the best talent organizations are able to have higher productivity and compete and the highest levels. Human Resources can ensure that organizations have a competitive advantage by selecting the right employee for the rig ht job. Globalization The second way human resources can create a competitive advantage for an organization is through globalization. The environment in which businesses compete is rapidly becoming globalized. More organizations are entering international markets by exporting their products overseas, building plants in other countries, and entering into alliances with foreign companies (Mathis & Jackson, 2003). Companies are trying to gain a competitive advantage, through international expansion. Deciding whether to enter foreign markets and whether to develop plants or other facilities in other countries is no simple matter and many human resource issues surface. (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 534). If human resources manages the issues that the organization is faced with when globalizing and provides the best services for the issues, it can increase the competitive performance among employees. Doing business globally requires adapting to many different cultures, and political systems, HR can p rovide diversity training, to cover the cultural issues and political affairs. If an organization has a reputation for being more diverse and understanding of various cultures and knowledge of various political systems they are competing at higher levels. Technology Technology is a leading factor in completive organizations, because it is so prominent today. Technology is the third way HR can create a competitive advantage for an organization. By creating a technology friendly HR where employees can access all information at any time in a timely manner.