Disney to acquire Lucasfilm LTD

[Acid Trip]

Looks like George found an offer he couldn't refuse (4 billion). More Star Wars movies are now in the pipeline!

http://i.imgur.com/UgHtw.jpg

Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 – Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

"Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value."

"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney's reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products."

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Lucasfilm, a leader in entertainment, innovation and technology, including its massively popular and "evergreen" Star Wars franchise and its operating businesses in live action film production, consumer products, animation, visual effects, and audio post production. Disney will also acquire the substantial portfolio of cutting-edge entertainment technologies that have kept audiences enthralled for many years. Lucasfilm, headquartered in San Francisco, operates under the names Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, and the present intent is for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney's global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

The acquisition combines two highly compatible family entertainment brands, and strengthens the long-standing beneficial relationship between them that already includes successful integration of Star Wars content into Disney theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris and Tokyo.

Driven by a tremendously talented creative team, Lucasfilm's legendary Star Wars franchise has flourished for more than 35 years, and offers a virtually limitless universe of characters and stories to drive continued feature film releases and franchise growth over the long term. Star Wars resonates with consumers around the world and creates extensive opportunities for Disney to deliver the content across its diverse portfolio of businesses including movies, television, consumer products, games and theme parks. Star Wars feature films have earned a total of $4.4 billion in global box to date, and continued global demand has made Star Wars one of the world's top product brands, and Lucasfilm a leading product licensor in the United States in 2011. The franchise provides a sustainable source of high quality, branded content with global appeal and is well suited for new business models including digital platforms, putting the acquisition in strong alignment with Disney's strategic priorities for continued long-term growth.

The Lucasfilm acquisition follows Disney's very successful acquisitions of Pixar and Marvel, which demonstrated the company's unique ability to fully develop and expand the financial potential of high quality creative content with compelling characters and storytelling through the application of innovative technology and multiplatform distribution on a truly global basis to create maximum value. Adding Lucasfilm to Disney's portfolio of world class brands significantly enhances the company's ability to serve consumers with a broad variety of the world's highest-quality content and to create additional long-term value for our shareholders.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Lucasfilm have approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, and other customary closing conditions. The agreement has been approved by the sole shareholder of Lucasfilm.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

chump change

[FBD]

I'd love to see...in perhaps 10 years time...a complete redo of episodes 1-3 - actually telling the fkn story this time, instead of having it be one big light show and anybody who didnt read the books winds up utterly confused as to why the plot evolved as it did.

[Muddy]

It's crazy how much money these guys make and throw around.. A fuggin movie series and it has more money than the State of Va..

[Teh One Who Knocks]

More Star Wars movies are now in the pipeline!

Who cares? After those last three travesties Lucas should be banned from making any more movies in the franchise. It's been ruined.

[Hal-9000]

if you know about his early life....he's doing exactly what he rallied against in 1976..


He was such a visionary back then, now total sellout


:x

[Pony]

Who cares? After those last three travesties Lucas should be banned from making any more movies in the franchise. It's been ruined.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008
Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2008
Red Tails 2012

[DemonGeminiX]

I'd love to see...in perhaps 10 years time...a complete redo of episodes 1-3 - actually telling the fkn story this time, instead of having it be one big light show and anybody who didnt read the books winds up utterly confused as to why the plot evolved as it did.

Nah, just go back to the ancient times and talk about all the shit they gleaned over in the video games.

[DemonGeminiX]

if you know about his early life....he's doing exactly what he rallied against in 1976..


He was such a visionary back then, now total sellout


:x

:hand:

All of the hippies sold out.

[Muddy]

I thought that love scene in the field was the cheesiest shit I have ever seen..

[deebakes]

i guess i don't know what to think... i might need to see the first version that disney puts out of star wars to make a decision... :idk:

[FBD]

Nah, just go back to the ancient times and talk about all the shit they gleaned over in the video games.

that's the thing that gets me, anything other than faithful representations of the lore already written is going to be a stupid garbagey departure from "the real star wars." a la GI Joe. "It doesnt matter what has already been written, we'll rewrite it as we see fit." fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck you people!

[DemonGeminiX]

I always wanted to see an origin film in the Star Wars universe. Who discovered the Force and who learned to master it first? How exactly did the Jedi split into factions and how exactly did the Dark Jedi become the Sith... all the way up to the first Galactic Sith War. To me, that would make a really cool series of films. But that's just me.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

What I'd really like to see is a Jar Jar Binks biopic :)

[Muddy]

What I'd really like to see is a Jar Jar Binks biopic :)

YESSS, man..

[FBD]

I always wanted to see an origin film in the Star Wars universe. Who discovered the Force and who learned to master it first? How exactly did the Jedi split into factions and how exactly did the Dark Jedi become the Sith... all the way up to the first Galactic Sith War. To me, that would make a really cool series of films. But that's just me.

You'd think they'd wise up and do a faithful representation...there is so much material already there, huge fanbase already there, and the closer they adhere to the tradition, the more it will be liked.

and ffs I hope they get beyond making it a light show and little else. like NOW.

[Acid Trip]

I always wanted to see an origin film in the Star Wars universe. Who discovered the Force and who learned to master it first? How exactly did the Jedi split into factions and how exactly did the Dark Jedi become the Sith... all the way up to the first Galactic Sith War. To me, that would make a really cool series of films. But that's just me.

All of this times 10.

[Muddy]

All of this times 10.

And leave out all ties to the Earthly universe we know.. No racism plugs or discrimination sub plot bullshit...

[Hal-9000]

What I'd really like to see is a Jar Jar Binks biopic :)

meesah fuck you up now :beatdown:

[FBD]

and now we find out why ol georgey sold it off - Obama's tax hikes

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/george-lucass-jedi-estate-planning-2012-11-01?link=MW_home_latest_news

In the “Empire Strike Back,” Yoda admonishes Luke Skywalker for spending his life dreaming of the future, “never his mind on where he was … what he was doing.” But at 68, George Lucas, the creator of the “Star Wars” saga, seems to be doing much thinking about the years ahead – in fact, experts say, his decision to sell his company to Disney DIS +1.15% was an estate planning move worthy of a Jedi Master.


The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm on Tuesday, October 30th, 2012. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Director George Lucas talk future projects and new "Star Wars" films. (Video and photo courtesy: Associated Press.)

Disney will buy LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, the two companies announced Tuesday. By cashing out now, experts say the filmmaker spared his family the need to pick up the pieces of his empire after he’s gone. It also allows him to focus his remaining years on his charitable endeavors – particularly Edutopia and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, which he founded in 1991. “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education,” Lucas wrote in 2010 (pdf) on GivingPledge.com , which invites the world’s wealthiest people to commit most of their money to philanthropy.

Since none of Lucas’s three adopted children plan to take over his film empire, financial advisers say the strategy will save his heirs the the responsibility of managing their inheritance – and potentially going through the often long and fraught process of dividing it. “Mr. Lucas has obviously surrounded himself for years with world class legal, estate and tax advisers,” Wade Westhoff, a financial adviser based in Danville, Calif., says of the Disney deal. “This is a textbook example of exit planning for a private business owner.” (Lucas and a spokesman for LucasFilm were not immediately available for comment)

That Lucas struck a deal in 2012 may be no accident either, advisers say. Long-term capital gains tax from the sale of assets held more than one year are taxed at a rate of 15% for investors in the 25% income tax bracket or above (Lucas’s level), and zero for investors in the 10% or 15% bracket. Those rates are set to jump to 20% and 10%, respectively in January. “He probably wanted to take advantage of the lower rate on long-term capital gain while it’s certain,” says Bill Smith, managing director at CBIZ MHM, a national accounting and professional services provider.

Of course, Lucas is far wealthier than the average American business owner. “With smaller mom-and-pop businesses [this kind of planning] can be more complicated,” says Charles Sizemore, a financial adviser based in Dallas, Tx. The owner of a restaurant or a landscaping business probably won’t have the option of selling to a Fortune 500 company, he says. “They may have to bring on a junior partner or work out a royalty arrangement with a new buyer,” he says.

But perhaps more than the money, experts say Lucas was also taking steps to ensure the future of his vision and ideas. Disney says it will produce “Star Wars Episode 7” for release in theaters worldwide in 2015 and will release more films every two to three years. “I felt like I wanted to put the company somewhere in a larger entity that would protect it,” Lucas told reporters this week. “We could go on making Star Wars for the next 100 years.” Should Lucas decide to set up trusts for his children, Westhoff says this deal will provide a steady income for his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren – and beyond.