How Steve Jobs Resurrected Pixar Studio

Steve Jobs very skillfully used his talent manager. In a short time, he turned the small computer company Pixar into one of the best movie studios in America. How did he succeed ? Writes the NY Times .

Pixar was founded in 1979 by George Lucas after the success of his Star Wars. Then it was called simply “Computer Division” and was the computer division of Lucasfilm. Lucas invited the best specialists in computer graphics, but did not know what to do with them. The film "Empire Strikes Back" in 1980 came out without any computer special effects.

In 1986, “Computer Division”, it was decided to separate into a separate company and find an external investor. The company was renamed Pixar, and its leaders appeared in the face of Steve Jobs. Even then, Steve's personal fortune was $ 185 million and he was a kind of cult figure. His offer of $ 5 million was initially rejected, but after an unsuccessful search for another investor, the studio owners finally agreed to such an amount. Jobs initially saw great promise in 3D animation technology. For a decade, he bent his line and continued to believe in. As always, intuition did not fail Steve.

I must say that during the protracted ten-year crisis, Jobs used all his authority and influence to maintain control of the studio. In 1991, he inexplicably persuaded employees to give their stakes in return for maintaining his personal patronage over the company. In the mid-90s, Steve insisted on an IPO.

All this happened before the release of Toy Story in 1995, the first full-length film Pixar, which was a real breakthrough, collected many prizes and brought in more than $ 350 million. This joint project with Disney Studios then caused disagreements between the management of the two corporations regarding the conditions deals. But here, the experience of Steve Jobs did his job, so that Pixar came out of the conflict as the winner.

In fact, it turned out that Steve Jobs used Disney capital to promote his own Pixar brand and create a powerful studio, which over time became the main competitor of the former patron.

Analysts agree that Jobs managed to circle partners around the finger and make a very competent combination. If not for him, Pixar would hardly have achieved such a success. Actually, they are unlikely to be involved in 3D animation at all. As you know, after the "Toy Story" she released a number of masterpieces, including "Monsters, Inc.", "Finding Nemo", "Ratatouille" and others.