Disney buys out Pixar for $7.4 billion

The Walt Disney Company has bought out longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion.

The Walt Disney Company has bought out longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion in a deal that could restore Disney's clout in animation while vaulting Pixar CEO Steve Jobs into a powerful role at the media conglomerate.

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Disney has bought the maker of the blockbuster films "Toy Story and "Finding Nemo" in an all-stock transaction that makes Jobs Disney's largest shareholder. Jobs, who controls more than half of Pixar's stock and also heads Apple Computer Inc., will also join Disney's board.

Disney has co-financed and distributed Pixar's animated films for the past 12 years, splitting the profits. But that deal expires in June after Pixar delivers "Cars."

Disney and Pixar have been talking for months about a new relationship.

Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will be become chief creative officer of the animation studios and principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the company's theme parks.

Pixar President Ed Catmull will serve as president of the new combined Pixar and Disney animation studios, reporting to Disney chief executive Robert Iger and Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.