Perhaps you’ve heard: social games maker Playdom was acquired by Disney a few days ago for a deal potentially worth north of $750 million. Playdom CEO John Pleasants took the stage today at our Social Currency CrunchUp in Palo Alto, to talk a bit about the deal and the future.
Pleasants says that he’s not exactly sure what his title at Disney will be yet, but he thinks he’ll be the General Manager of Playdom. He’s also not sure if Tapulous (another gaming company just acquired by Disney) will be under his department, but he doesn’t think so. And he made sure to clarify that the deal was for $563.2 million plus an earn-out of up to $200 million — so he’s not super super super rich, he’s just super super rich. → Read More
Disney and social gaming startup Playdom are in “very” late stage acquisition discussions, we’ve heard from, oh, about seven independent sources, including sources close to Playdom, over the last several days. Internally the two parties have referred to the deal as “Project Platinum” based on due diligence documents we’ve reviewed.
Some sources have said the deal is signed and in the closing process. Others say it hasn’t been signed yet and could still unravel.
Disney is already an investor in Playdom – last month we reported that Disney’s Steamboat Ventures participated in a new injection of $33 million into the company. Playdom has raised a total of $76 million, and the most recent valuation of the company was around $345 million. → Read More
It’s safe to say that Toy Story is still Pixar’s biggest, most beloved franchise. The third movie, which Biggs inexplicably reviewed the other day—should I review the new Roots album here?— took home some $109 million at the weekend. That’s Pixar’s biggest opening weekend ever. The other big, animated feature of the year, Shrek Forever After, only took home $71 million its first weekend. → Read More
Tokyo-based gadget maker Greenhouse announced [JP] three super-cute, Disney-themed digital photo frames today, the GH-DF35TV. Buyers can choose between three characters: Winnie The Pooh, Stitch or Little Green Man (one of those green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story 1 and 2). → Read More
In September last year, Sony rolled out the S Series Walkman, portable audio and video players, which are supposed to compete with the iPod Nano. And today, Sony in Japan announced [JP] a branded version of those Walkmans, namely the “Disney Character S Series Walkman”. To be more exact, Sony introduced nine Disney-themed Walkmans, a special case and a Mickey Mouse stand. → Read More
Tron Legacy is nerds wet dream come true. The movie will hopefully invoke the same sort of futuristic imagination as the original. You’ve watched the trailer, right? Well, anyway, to gear up for the premiere, Disney has skin a couple of its monorails to look like the light cycles. Kind of meta future meets future moment, eh? → Read More
A consortium of investors led by The Walt Disney Company is currently engaged in advanced talks to invest in Bus Online, China’s leading in-bus digital media and advertising company, sources tell Reuters.
The deal, which would provide Disney with a new platform to promote Mickey Mouse in China, is oddly said to involve Google, which is a minority investor in the consortium according to the news agency’s sources.
Update: Our own well-placed source says that Reuters has it wrong and that Google is not part of the prospective investment group. → Read More
The cable companies suck. All of them. Some suck less than others. But they all suck. We need someone to whip them into shape. And that someone may be Apple.
Apple may be on the verge of gaining two key television network agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, CBS and Walt Disney (which runs ABC) are said to be considering a proposal by Apple to offer a subscription-based TV service over the Internet. Presumably, this would work through iTunes like all of Apple-based content, but also presumably it would work over Apple’s Apple TV device (though maybe a new version of it) to bring this content into the living room, where people are used to consuming it. Simply put: This could be huge. → Read More
Tokyo-based Kenko-Tokina, normally known for its camera accessories, has announced a cute Disney-themed digital camera [JP] for the Japanese market today. Spec-wise, this 8MP point-and-shoot camera isn’t anything special, but that’s what you’d expect from a camera whose case shows Mickey Mouse giving Minnie a bucket of hearts. → Read More
This photoset is a fantastic use of 10 minutes of your time. Life apparently spent some time on the scenes of Disney’s 1954 classic and the photos have just been posted for your viewing pleasure. They are fantastic. Jump over to the site to see for yourself. [Time via Boing-Boing] → Read More
When in doubt, make a sequel. When in doubt in the year 2009, tack on 3D. That’s the mentality of Hollywood these days—“remakes” are another in thing—and it looks like will be in theaters on December 17, 2010 Tron: Legacy. Considering my only knowledge of Tron comes from that one Simpsons episode, I’m not going to pretend to be excited. But maybe some of you are! → Read More
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced this morning. Under the terms of the agreement and based on last week’s closing price of Disney, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the total transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.
Under the deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its portfolio of over 5,000 Marvel characters. That portfolio includes many familiar names like Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor. → Read More
Canadian photo sharing startup BubbleShare will be shuttered on November 15, 2009. Users were notified via email and a notice on the site’s home page.
The site, founded by Albert Lai, first launched in late 2005 and we immediately liked it: “Toronto-based online photo sharing BubbleShare is just wonderful, and ridiculously easy to use. Their interface team deserves a gold star or something…” Adding interface features like zoom just made it even more fun to use.
In early 2007 the company was sold to Kaboose Inc. (TSX: KAB), a small public “family focused online media company” in Canada, for US$2.25 million plus up to another US$750,000 based on an earn-out provision.
Some Kaboose assets, in turn, were acquired by Disney in April 2009 for $18.4 million. → Read More
Huh. That’s weird. Well, ASUS and Disney teamed up on a netbook, called the Netpal, designed to “make computing fun.” I thought a regular laptop with parental controls could do the same thing, but apparently you need an 8.9-inch display, Wi-Fi, and a locked down version of XP to really have fun. The Netpal is selling at Toys ‘r’ Us and Amazon for $349. Would you buy a full-bore netbook for your kids? → Read More
Great news for VUDU owners this morning. Well, great news if they happen to have kids. VUDU just announced that Disney has released 60 library films for purchase and future titles will be up on the same day that the Blu-ray/DVD titles are released. → Read More
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