...9-709-462 REV: JANUARY 15, 2010 JUAN ALCACER DAVID COLLIS MARY FUREY The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire? In November 2005, Robert Iger, the newly appointed CEO of the Walt Disney Company, eagerly awaited the box office results of Chicken Little, the company’s second computer-generated (CG) feature film. He knew that, for Disney as a whole to be successful, he had to get the animation business right, particularly the new CG technology that was rapidly supplanting hand-drawn animation.1 Yet the company had been reliant on a contract with animation studio Pixar, which had produced hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo, for most of its recent animated film revenue. And the co-production agreement, brokered during the tenure of his predecessor, Michael Eisner, was set to expire in 2006 after the release of Cars, the fifth movie in the five-picture deal. Unfortunately, contract renewal negotiations between Steve Jobs, CEO of Pixar, and Eisner had broken down in 2004 amid reports of personal conflict. When he assumed his new role, Iger reopened the lines of communication between the companies. In fact, he had just struck a deal with Jobs to sell Disneyowned, ABC-produced television shows—such as “Desperate Housewives”—through Apple’s iTunes Music Store.2 Iger knew that a deal with Pixar was possible; it was just a question of what that deal would look like. Did it make the most sense for Disney to simply buy Pixar? Walt Disney Feature Animation ...
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...Batman and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and Watchmen and Philosophy. curiouser RICHARD BRIAN DAVIS is an associate professor of philosophy at Tyndale University College and the coeditor of 24 and Philosophy. R I C H A R D B R I A N D AV I S AND PHILOSOPHY Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has fascinated children and adults alike for generations. Why does Lewis Carroll introduce us to such oddities as a blue caterpillar who smokes a hookah, a cat whose grin remains after its head has faded away, and a White Queen who lives backward and remembers forward? Is it all just nonsense? Was Carroll under the influence? This book probes the deeper underlying meaning in the Alice books and reveals a world rich with philosophical life lessons. Tapping into some of the greatest philosophical minds that ever lived— Aristotle, Hume, Hobbes, and Nietzsche—Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy explores life’s ultimate questions through the eyes of perhaps the most endearing heroine in all of literature. B Y WONDERLA ND R E D I T E D WILLIAM IRWIN IN Can Humpty Dumpty make words mean whatever he says they mean? Alice Should the Cheshire Cat’s grin make us reconsider the nature of reality? E D I T O R : $17.95 USA/$21.95 CAN Cove r D e si g n : Pa u l M c Ca r t hy Cove r I m a g e : © G e t t y I m a g e s EDITED BY...
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...Student Handbook 2012 WELCOME TO WAIKATO Welcome to the University of Waikato. I hope you make the most of your time here and the opportunities that will present themselves during the course of your study. You have come to an excellent university that is ranked top in 10 subjects under the Government’s Performance Based Research Fund. We are also internationally connected; we have research connections and student exchanges with some of the world’s top universities. I urge you to consider taking part in these while you are with us. Here at the University of Waikato, you will be taught by lecturers who are leaders in their fields of research and who win national teaching awards. We are proud of our academic quality and the fact that we turn out sought-after graduates who go on to take up important roles in all parts of the world. You will already have noticed our beautiful campus which is set in 68 hectares of gardens, green space and lakes. At the heart of it all is the new Student Centre, which was completed in 2011. With its accessible areas, Library services and multitude of facilities, it is a place for students to study or just gather together and we are very proud of this building. In 2011 we celebrated 10 years of another important building, the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. This world-class facility was the vision of a group of driven Waikato people. It quickly became a focal point in the campus and continues to be an important venue for the performing...
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