A Hippie in the House of Mouse (Jim Henson at Disney, 1980)
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
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a gecko and a frog fighting over a pig )))I can't believe I found it but here:
now if geico is the white knight you can bring in another gecko lol
I can picture this as some sort of thing being made in 2008 of the Muppets vs Wall street when the economy goes belly up
Economicals cycles are not written in stone.... we could see a worse 2001 bubble burst and enron scandal for example with proper butterfliesI think there was a spoiler in the last contribution.
Okay, cool, you made it clear Holmes is ultimately going to fail, this is reassuring.
Don't read too much into my sketchy grammar. Changed to something more ambiguous. Squirm, fools!
[Ninja Edit 1200 EDT]
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News Interlude
Mayday for Disney?
Wall Street Journal, May 1st, 1984
Disney may be in trouble. Recently, Australian entrepreneur and noted takeover artist Robert Holmes à Court initiated a hostile takeover attempt of the classic American entertainment firm. With stock prices below $85 a share, the company is largely considered undervalued by Wall Street and is certainly vulnerable. Many in the Wall Street arbitrageur community are already rumored to be buying up stock, with Ivan Boesky reportedly gobbling up all the shares that he can.
WSJ analysts predict that, if his bid is successful, Holmes à Court will keep the studio assets, but largely strip away the rest, making many Disney fans nervous for the future of the company. But is this a bad thing? Holmes à Court and his coalition of investors (rumored to include Irwin Jacobs, hotel giant J. Willard Marriott, Jr., Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda group, and Bally Technologies CEO C. Richard Iannone, whose holdings include the competing Six Flags theme park chain) promise major structural and management reforms. “Walt and Roy O. Disney were outstanding and visionary businessmen,” Holmes à Court told WSJ, “It is too bad that their successors have squandered the company that they built.”
But Disney isn’t going down without a fight. They recently acquired Jim Henson’s Henson Associates company, which includes the Muppets and Sesame Street[1], in an all-stock purchase rumored to be valued at $250 million. But this stock-dilution strategy appears to have backfired. When asked if the Henson buy gave him pause, Holmes à Court told WSJ, “To the contrary. It has sweetened the pot. I’ve been hoping to bring the Muppets back to ACC ever since my predecessor [Lord Lew Grade] rashly sold [the rights] to Disney.”
It remains to be seen whether Holmes à Court will triumph, or whether Disney management can hold on. Rumors of raucous board meetings and a green and indecisive CEO bode poorly for the latter, however. Holmes à Court’s newly created Kingdom Acquisitions, LLC, has recently reported a 22.3% stake in Disney to the SEC, and is reported to be growing by the day.
[1] Does NOT include Sesame Street.
Wall Street Journal, May 1st, 1984
Disney may be in trouble. Recently, Australian entrepreneur and noted takeover artist Robert Holmes à Court initiated a hostile takeover attempt of the classic American entertainment firm. With stock prices below $85 a share, the company is largely considered undervalued by Wall Street and is certainly vulnerable. Many in the Wall Street arbitrageur community are already rumored to be buying up stock, with Ivan Boesky reportedly gobbling up all the shares that he can.
WSJ analysts predict that, if his bid is successful, Holmes à Court will keep the studio assets, but largely strip away the rest, making many Disney fans nervous for the future of the company. But is this a bad thing? Holmes à Court and his coalition of investors (rumored to include Irwin Jacobs, hotel giant J. Willard Marriott, Jr., Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda group, and Bally Technologies CEO C. Richard Iannone, whose holdings include the competing Six Flags theme park chain) promise major structural and management reforms. “Walt and Roy O. Disney were outstanding and visionary businessmen,” Holmes à Court told WSJ, “It is too bad that their successors have squandered the company that they built.”
But Disney isn’t going down without a fight. They recently acquired Jim Henson’s Henson Associates company, which includes the Muppets and Sesame Street[1], in an all-stock purchase rumored to be valued at $250 million. But this stock-dilution strategy appears to have backfired. When asked if the Henson buy gave him pause, Holmes à Court told WSJ, “To the contrary. It has sweetened the pot. I’ve been hoping to bring the Muppets back to ACC ever since my predecessor [Lord Lew Grade] rashly sold [the rights] to Disney.”
It remains to be seen whether Holmes à Court will triumph, or whether Disney management can hold on. Rumors of raucous board meetings and a green and indecisive CEO bode poorly for the latter, however. Holmes à Court’s newly created Kingdom Acquisitions, LLC, has recently reported a 22.3% stake in Disney to the SEC, and is reported to be growing by the day.
[1] Does NOT include Sesame Street.
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Sorry to be on about this again, but Holmes à Court shouldn't be talking like he represents ITV. IOTL, when he bought ACC, they still owned a sizable share in Central (the replacement franchise for ATV), but the Independent Broadcasting Authority said "No way" (they weren't happy about the number of shares held by British companies from outside the Central region, so they certainly weren't going to let a South African Australian take over), and they were put in trust until he sold them on in 1983.
Of course, he may be assuming the Wall Street Journal doesn't know that.
Of course, he may be assuming the Wall Street Journal doesn't know that.
I've been trying to figure out what Holmes à Court's Disney would even look like, and I think the answer is probably something like "all the problems the company has already are left to fester until they start affecting profits, at which point that side of the business gets sold off". On the other hand, if Henson continues to be an influence that improves company culture, he'll let that happen too. Ultimately, he's not going to shake things up for good or bad, because he doesn't really care.
(One thing I learned looking into this: ITC [which was ACC, which was ATV] were the UK distributors of The Brave Little Toaster, the first animated film by OTL's Hyperion!)
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