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Steve Jobs - excerpts from book III.

Libor Kubín
15

Dear readers, Jablíčkář once again brings you an exclusive, unabridged, final sample of chapter 32 from the forthcoming Steve Jobs biography. It will be released in the Czech Republic on November 15, 11. You can get it now pre-order for a discounted price of CZK 420.

Friends of Pixar

…and enemies too

The life of a bug

When Apple developed the iMac, Jobs went with Jony Ive to show it to people at the Pixar studio. He believed that the machine had a daring nature and would certainly impress the creators of Buzz Rocket and Woody, and he liked that both Ive and John Lasseter had a knack for playfully combining art with technology.

Pixar was a refuge for Jobs when things got too much for him in Cupertino. At Apple, the managers were often tired and irritable, and Jobs was also somewhat volatile and people used to be nervous about him because they never knew how he was doing. At Pixar, on the other hand, everyone was calmer, kinder and more smiling, both to each other and to Jobs. In other words, the atmosphere in the workplace was always determined by the highest - at Apple Jobs and at Pixar Lasseter.

Jobs loved the playfulness of filmmaking and enthusiastically learned computer magic, thanks to which, for example, rays of sunlight refracted in raindrops or blades of grass waved in the wind. Here, however, he was able to let go of the desire to have everything under his absolute control. It was at Pixar that he learned to let others freely develop their creative potential and be guided by them. It was mainly because he liked Lasseter, a subtle artist who, like Ive, could bring out the best in Jobs.

Jobs' main role at Pixar was negotiation, an area where he could fully exercise his natural zeal. Not long after the premiere Toy Story clashed with Jeffrey Katzenberg, who had left Disney in the summer of 1994 to team up with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen to form a new studio, DreamWorks SKG. Jobs believed that his team at Pixar had entrusted Katzenberg with plans for the new film while he was still at Disney A Bug's Life and that DreamWorks stole their idea for an animated film about insects and made a movie out of it Antz (Ant Z): “When Jeffrey was still animating at Disney, we talked to him about our ideas for The life of a bug,” says Jobs. “In the sixty years of animated film history, no one had thought of making a film about insects—except Lasseter. It was one of his brilliant ideas. And Jeffrey suddenly left Disney, founded DreamWorks, and by chance got an idea for an animated film - oops! – about insects. And he pretended he had never heard of our idea. He's lying. He lies and doesn't even blush.'

However, it was not like that. The real story is a bit more interesting. Katzenberg, while at Disney, had not really heard of Pixar's ideas for The life of a bug. But when he left to start DreamWorks, he stayed in touch with Lasseter, and they'd call each other from time to time, just to say something like, "Hey, man, how's life going, what are you still doing?" And when Lasseter was in the studios At Universal, where DreamWorks was also filming, he called Katzenberg and met with several other colleagues. When Katzenberg asked what they planned next, Lasseter told him. "We explained to him The life of a bug, starring an ant who brings other insects together and hires a group of flea circus performers to defeat the voracious grasshoppers,” recalls Lasseter. "I should have been more careful. Jeffrey kept asking when we wanted to release it.'

Lasseter became concerned when he heard in early 1996 that DreamWorks was developing its own computer-animated ant film. He called Katzenberg and asked him outright. Katzenberg laughed and squirmed awkwardly, asking Lasseter where he had heard about it. Lasseter asked again, and Katzenberg had already conceded the color. "How could you do that?" Lasseter, who rarely raised his soft voice, roared at him.

"We've had this idea for a long time," claimed Katzenberg, who was said to have been brought up to the idea by DreamWorks' director of development.

"I don't believe it," Lasseter replied.

Katzenberg admitted that Ant Z he did because of former colleagues from Disney. DreamWorks' first major film was Prince of Egypt, which was scheduled to premiere on Thanksgiving Day 1998, and he was startled to learn that Disney was planning to premiere the Pixar The life of a bug. That's why he finished quickly Ant Z, to get Disney to change the premiere date The life of a bug.

"Fuck you," Lasseter, who normally never spoke like that, relieved himself. And then he didn't speak to Katzenberg for thirteen years.

Jobs was furious. And he gave vent to his emotions far more expertly than Lasseter. He called Katzenberg on the phone and started yelling at him. Katzenberg made him an offer: he would delay production Ant Z, when Jobs and Disney move the premiere The life of a bug so that it does not conflict with Prince of Egypt. "It was shameless blackmail, and I didn't go along with it," Jobs recalls. He told Katzenberg that Disney would not change the premiere date at any cost.

"But he could," Katzenberg replied. "You can do whatever you put your mind to. And you taught me too!” He said that when Pixar was nearly bankrupt, he came to the rescue with a contract to Toy Story. "I was the only one who didn't leave you hanging, and now you're going to let them use you against me." He suggested that if Jobs wanted to, he could simply slow down production The life of a bug and to say nothing to the Disney studio. And Katzenberg then delays Ant Z. “Forget it,” Jobs said.

But Katzenberg was on horseback. It was clear that Eisner and Disney were using the Pixar film to get revenge on him for leaving Disney to start a rival studio. "Prince of Egypt was the first thing we did, and they deliberately put something of their own on the day of our premiere just to piss us off," he said. "But I saw it like the Lion King: if you stick your hand in his cage and touch me, you'll regret it."

Neither side backed down, and two similar films about insects aroused unprecedented media interest. Disney tried to silence Jobs, believing that stirring up rivalries would only serve as publicity for Ant Z, but Jobs was not one to be easily gagged. "The bad guys don't usually win," he said in an interview with Los Angeles Times. DreamWorks' quick-witted marketing expert Terry Press suggested, "Steve Jobs should take a pill."

Ant Z premiered in early October 1998. It wasn't a bad movie. The neurotic ant, living in a conformist society and eager to express his individuality, was voiced by Woody Allen. "This is a Woody Allen comedy, the kind Woody Allen doesn't make anymore," he wrote Time. The film grossed 91 million in America and 172 million worldwide.

The life of a bug he arrived six weeks later than originally planned. It had a more narrative script that turned Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper on its head, and it was also made with much more technical skill, allowing viewers to enjoy, for example, detailed views of the meadow from the ant's perspective. Time praised it: "The filmmakers did such a stellar job creating this wide-screen realm of straws, leaves, grasses, and labyrinths populated by dozens of ugly, maddened, and cute creatures that the DreamWorks film feels like a radio play next to their work," wrote critic Richard Corliss. And at the box office, the film also fared much better than Ant Z – 163 million in the United States and 363 million worldwide. (He beat i Prince of Egypt. )

A few years later, Katzenberg met Jobs by chance and tried to patch things up between them. He insisted that when he was at Disney, he never heard of the ideas for The life of a bug, and if he did, his contract with Disney would allow him to share in the profits, so he wouldn't be lying about something like that. Jobs waved his hand at it. "I asked you to move the premiere date and you refused, so you can't be surprised that I defended my child," said Katzenberg. He recalled Jobs nodding that he understood. However, Jobs later said that he never really forgave Katzenberg:

“Our film beat his film at the box office. It turned out well? No, it didn't, because people are now watching everyone in Hollywood suddenly make insect movies. He took away John's original idea, and that can't be replaced. He caused so much damage that I couldn't trust him anymore, even when he wanted to settle it. He came to me after the success of Shrek and said, 'I've changed. I am a different person. I'm finally living at peace with myself,' and that kind of nonsense. I was like, give me a break, Jeffrey. He works hard, but knowing his morals, I just can't be happy that such a person is successful in this world. They lie a lot in Hollywood. It's a strange world. Those people lie because they are in an industry where there is no accountability for work. None. And that's how they get away with it.''

More important than defeat Ant Z — while it was an interesting revenge — was that Pixar showed it wasn't a one-hit wonder. The life of a bug earned as well as Toy Story, proving Pixar that their first success wasn't just a fluke. "The second product syndrome is a classic in business," Jobs later said. It comes from not understanding why your first product was such a success. "I experienced it at Apple. And I thought to myself: If we can do the second film, then we did it."

"Steve's Own Movie"

Toy Story II, which premiered in November 1999, was an even bigger blockbuster, grossing $246 million in the United States and $485 million worldwide. The success of Pixar was definitively confirmed, and it was time to start building a representative headquarters. Until now, Pixar operated out of an abandoned cannery in San Francisco's Emeryville, an industrial district between Berkeley and Oakland, just beyond the Bay Bridge. They had the old building torn down, and Jobs commissioned Peter Bohlin, the architect of Apple stores, to build a new building on the sixteen-acre lot.

Of course, Jobs took a keen interest in every aspect of the new building, from the overall design to the smallest detail regarding materials and construction technology. "Steve believed that the right kind of building could do great things for culture," says Pixar president Ed Catmull. Jobs oversaw the building's entire process as if he were a director putting his own sweat and tears into every scene of his film. "The Pixar building was kind of Steve's own movie," says Lasseter.

Lasseter originally wanted to build a traditional Hollywood studio with separate buildings for different purposes and bungalows for the work crew. But people from Disney said they didn't like their new campus because it felt isolated, and Jobs agreed. He decided to go to the opposite extreme and build one large building in the middle with an atrium that would help people meet.

Despite being a seasoned veteran of the digital world, or perhaps because he knew so well how easily this world can isolate people, Jobs believed very strongly in the power of meeting people face-to-face. "In today's Internet age, we're tempted to think that ideas can be developed in iChat and email," he says. "That's a hit. Ideas come from spontaneous meetings, from random conversations. You run into someone, you ask them what they're doing, you say 'wow' and in no time all kinds of ideas are swirling in your head."

And so he wanted the Pixar building to encourage such chance encounters and unplanned collaborations. "If the building doesn't support this, you're depriving yourself of a lot of innovation and brilliant ideas that happen," he says. "So we designed a building that forces people to get out of their offices, walk through the atrium, and meet other people they might not have met otherwise." All the main doors, stairs and corridors led to the atrium, there were cafes, seen from the windows of the conference hall, which consisted of one large, six-hundred-seat auditorium and two smaller projection rooms, from which there was also access to the atrium. “Steve's theory worked from day one,” recalls Lasseter. "I bumped into people I hadn't seen in months. I've never seen a building that fosters collaboration and creativity like this one.”

Jobs even went so far as to decide that the building would only have two giant washrooms with toilets, one for each gender, also connected by an atrium. "His vision was really very strong, he was absolutely convinced of his idea," recalls Pixar executive Pam Kerwin. “Some of us felt it was going too far. For example, one pregnant woman stated that they couldn't force her to go to the toilet for ten minutes. There was a huge fight about it.” And it was also one of the moments when Lasseter and Jobs disagreed. So they made a compromise: double toilets would be on both floors on each side of the atrium.

The building's steel beams were to be visible, so Jobs went through samples from contractors across the States, wondering what color and texture would work best for them. Finally, he chose a factory in Arkansas, commissioned them to make clear-colored steel and to make sure the beams didn't scuff and dent during shipping. He also insisted that they be bolted together, not welded. “They made beautiful pure steel,” he recalls. "When the workers were loading the beams on the weekend, they invited the families over to look at it."

The most unusual meeting place at Pixar headquarters was the Lounge of Love. When one of the animators moved into his office, he found a small door at the back. He opened it to see a small, low passage that led to a room with tin walls that gave access to the air conditioning system. The person in question made this room his own, decorating it with Christmas lights and lava lamps with his colleagues and furnishing armchairs with animal print fabrics, cushions with tassels, a folding cocktail table, a well-stocked bar and napkins printed with Love Lounge. A video camera installed in the passage allowed employees to monitor who was approaching.

Lasseter and Jobs brought important guests here, who always asked if they would sign the wall here. There was the signature of Michael Eisner, Roy Disney, Tim Allen or Randy Newman. Jobs loved it here, but because he didn't drink, he sometimes referred to the room as the Meditation Lounge. He said the muto was reminiscent of the "lounge" he and Daniel Kottke had at Reed, only without the LSD.

Divorce

In testimony before a Senate committee in February 2002, Michael Eisner attacked the ads Jobs made for iTunes. “We have computer companies here that have full-page ads and billboards that say: Download, mix, burn,” he declared. "In other words, they encourage and encourage theft by anyone who buys their computer."

This was not a very smart remark, as it implied that Eisner did not understand the principle of iTunes. And Jobs, understandably, burned himself out, which Eisner could have predicted. And that wasn't smart either, because Pixar and Disney just unveiled their fourth movie Monsters Inc. (Monsters Inc ), which soon proved to be more successful than the previous films, grossing $525 million worldwide. The contract between Pixar and the Disney studio was about to be extended, and Eisner certainly did not help it when he publicly smeared his partner in this way in the US Senate. Jobs was so distraught that he immediately called one of the executives from Disney to relieve himself. "Do you know what Michael just did to me?"

Eisner and Jobs came from different backgrounds, each from a different corner of America. However, they were similar in their strong will and not much willingness to compromise. They both wanted to make quality things, which for them meant cuddling the details and not cuddling the critics. Watching Eisner ride the Wild Kingdom train over and over again, figuring out how to make the ride even better is like watching Steve Jobs fiddle with the iPod interface and ponder how to make it even simpler. On the other hand, watching them interact with people was not nearly as uplifting.

Both were able to assert themselves, but they did not like to back down, which more than once, when they got into each other, caused a suffocation in the workplace. In every argument they accused each other of lying. But neither Eisner nor Jobs believed they could learn anything from the other, nor did they ever think to show the other a modicum of respect and at least pretend there was something to learn. Jobs blames Eisner:

“The worst part, I think, is that Pixar successfully revived Disney's business, making one great movie after another, while Disney spawned flop after flop. You'd think the head of Disney would want to know how Pixar probably does it. But he visited Pixar for a total of two and a half hours in the twenty years of our relationship, just to give us a congratulatory speech. He didn't care, he was never curious. And that amazes me. Curiosity is very important.”

That was too rude. Eisner stayed at Pixar a bit longer, Jobs was not present for some of his visits. However, it was true that he did not show much interest in technology or artistic work in the studio. Unlike him, Jobs devoted a lot of time to getting something from Disney's management.

The nudge between Eisner and Jobs began in the summer of 2002. Jobs had always admired the creative spirit of the great Walt Disney and the fact that the Disney company had been operating for several generations. He saw Walt's nephew Roy as the embodiment of his uncle's historical legacy and philosophy of life. Roy was still at the helm of the Disney studio, despite the fact that he and Eisner were not nearly as close as before, and Jobs indicated to him that Pixar would not renew its contract with Disney if Eisner remained at the helm.

Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, his close associate in the studio's management, began to alert other executives to the problem with Pixar. In August 2002, this prompted Eisner to write an e-mail to management in which he did not take napkins. He was convinced that Pixar would eventually renew the deal, partly because Disney had the rights to Pixar's films and the credits were already done. Plus, Disney will be in a better negotiating position a year from now because Pixar will release their new movie Finding Nemo (Finding Nemo). “Yesterday we watched the new Pixar movie for the second time Finding Nemo, which is set to premiere next May," he wrote. "It will be a big reality check for those guys. It's pretty good, but nowhere near as good as their last film. But of course they feel it's wonderful.” This email had two major flaws: first, its text was leaked to Los Angeles Times and upset Jobs. And secondly, he was wrong, very wrong.

Animated film Finding Nemo became Pixar's (and Disney's) biggest hit to date and surpassed The Lion King and became the most successful animated film in history. It grossed $340 million domestically and a respectable $868 million worldwide. In 2010, it also became the most popular DVD of all time – with 40 million copies sold – and became the subject of popular rides at Disney parks. And on top of that, it was a perfectly crafted and impressive piece of art that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. "I really like the movie because it's about taking risks and learning to let the ones we love take risks," says Jobs. The success of the film meant 183 million dollars for Pixar's coffers, which now had a nice 521 million for the final settlement with Disney.

Shortly after completion Does not have Jobs made Eisner's offer so one-sided that it was absolutely clear that it had to be rejected. Instead of a 50:50 revenue split, as the existing deal called for, Jobs proposed that Pixar would be the full and exclusive owner of the films, paying Disney only seven and a half percent for distribution. And the last two movies - they were just working on the movies The Incredibles a Cars – including the main characters will already be subject to the new agreement.

But Eisner had one big trump card in his hand. Even if Pixar does not renew the contract, Disney has the rights to make a sequel Toy Story and other films made by Pixar, and has the rights to their heroes, from Woody to Nemo, as well as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Eisner was already planning—or threatening—that Disney animators would create Toy Story III, because Pixar didn't want to do it. "If you look at what the company has done, for example, Cinderella II, just shrugs it off," Jobs said.

Eisner did manage to get Roy Disney to step down as chairman in November 2003, but the unrest did not end there. Disney wrote a scathing open letter. "The company has lost its center of gravity, its creative energy, it has thrown away its legacy," he wrote. In the litany of Eisner's alleged failures, however, he did not mention building a fruitful relationship with Pixar. Jobs decided at this point that he no longer wanted to work with Eisner. In January 2004, he publicly announced that he had broken off negotiations with the Disney studio.

As a rule, Jobs was careful not to let the public see his strong opinions, which he shared only with his friends around the kitchen table in Palo Alto. But this time he didn't hold back. At a press conference he called, he told reporters that while Pixar was producing hits, Disney's animators were making an "embarrassing mess." He was referring to Eisner's comment that Pixar's films were Disney's creative business. “The reality is that we've worked very little with Disney on a creative level in recent years. You can compare the creative quality of our films to the creative quality of the last three Disney films and get a picture of the creativity of that company for yourself.” In addition to building a better creative team, Jobs also built a brand that became a big draw for audiences, who went to the cinema to see Disney movies. "We believe that Pixar is now the most powerful and recognized brand in animation." When Jobs asked for attention, Roy Disney replied, "When the wicked witch dies, we'll be together again."

John Lasseter was horrified at the thought of breaking up with Disney. "I was worried about my children. What are they going to do with the characters we created?” he recalled. “It was like a dagger was thrust into my heart.” He wept as he assembled his team in the Pixar conference room, tears welling up in his eyes as he addressed the eight hundred Pixar employees gathered in the atrium. "It's like giving your beloved children up for adoption to people convicted of child abuse." Then Jobs stepped up and tried to defuse the situation. He explained why it was necessary to part ways with Disney and assured everyone that Pixar would continue and be successful. "He had a tremendous power of persuasion," said Jacob, a longtime Pixar engineer. "We all suddenly believed that no matter what happened, Pixar would thrive."

Bob Iger, president of the Disney company, had to step in and mitigate the possible consequences of Jobs' words. He was as perceptive and realistic as those around him were eloquent. He came from a television background - before being acquired by Disney in 1996, he was president of the ABC Network. He was a capable manager, but he also had an eye for talent, an understanding of people and a sense of the situation, and he knew how to keep quiet when needed. Unlike Eisner and Jobs, he was calm and very disciplined, which helped him deal with people with inflated egos. "Steve stunned people by announcing that he was done with us," Iger later recalled. "We went into crisis mode and I was trying to sort everything out."

Eisner led Disney for ten fruitful years. The president of the company was Frank Wells. Wells freed Eisner from many managerial responsibilities, so Eisner could work on his suggestions, usually valuable and often dazzling, to improve every movie, Disney park attraction, television project, or countless other matters. But when Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, Eisner couldn't find a better manager. Wells' post was demanded by Katzenberg, which is why Eisner got rid of him. In 1995, Michael Ovitz became president, but it was not a very happy decision and Ovitz left after less than two years. Jobs later commented as follows:

"For the first ten years in the position of executive director, Eisner did an honest job. But he has been doing a poor job for the last ten years. And that change came when Frank Wells died. Eisner is a creative guy. He has good ideas. And so while Frank took care of operational matters, Eisner could fly from project to project like a bumblebee, improving them with his input. But he wasn't good as a manager, so when he had to take care of traffic, it was bad. No one liked working for him. He had no authority. He had a strategic planning group that was like the Gestapo, you couldn't spend a penny without being sanctioned. Although I parted ways with him, I have to acknowledge the achievements he achieved in his first ten years. I liked a certain part of his personality. Sometimes it is a fun companion - pleasant, prompt, funny. But he also has a darker side, when his ego gets the better of him. In the beginning, he behaved fairly and sensibly, but during those ten years I got to know him from the worse side as well.'

Eisner's biggest problem in 2004 was that he couldn't see the chaos in the animation department. The last two films, Treasure Planet a Brother Bear, neither did Disney's legacy justice, nor did they do much good at the box office. At the same time, successful animated films were the lifeblood of society, from them came attractions in amusement parks, children's toys and popular television programs. Toy Story had a sequel, the show was created according to him Disney on ice, the musical Toy Story, which was played on Disney's cruise ships, also featured a special video starring Buzz the Rocketeer, a CD of fairy tales, two video games and dozens of toys that sold a combined total of about 25 million, a clothing collection and nine different attractions at Disney theme parks. Treasure planet however, that was not the case.

"Michael didn't understand that Disney's problems in animation were really acute," Iger later explained. "And that was also reflected in the way he dealt with Pixar. He felt that he didn't need Pixar, although it was the exact opposite." Moreover, Eisner liked to negotiate very much and hated compromises, which understandably clashed with Jobs, because he was from the same dough. "Every negotiation requires some compromise," says Iger. "And neither of those two is exactly a master of compromise."

The way out of the impasse came one Saturday evening in March 2005, when Iger got a phone call from then-Senator George Mitchell and several other Disney board members. They told him they would replace Eisner as CEO in a few months. When Iger got up the next morning, he called his daughters and then Steve Jobsov John Lasseter and told them very plainly that he valued Pixar and wanted to make a deal. Jobs was thrilled. He liked Iger and at one point even discovered that they had a little in common because Jobs' one-time girlfriend Jennifer Egan lived with Iger's wife at university.

That summer, before Iger officially took over, he had a trial meeting with Jobs. Apple was about to come out with an iPod that could play video in addition to music. In order to sell it, it had to be presented on television, and Jobs didn't want too much to be known about it because he wanted it to remain a secret until he revealed it himself on stage at the launch event. The two most successful American television series, Desperate Housewives a Lost, owned by ABC, overseen by Iger from Disney. Iger, who had several iPods himself and used them from early morning warm-ups to late-night work, immediately saw what he could do to showcase the iPod on television and offered ABC's two most popular series. "We started talking about it within a week, it wasn't exactly easy," Iger recalls. "But it was important because Steve got to see how I work and because it got to show everyone that Disney was able to work with Steve."

To celebrate the launch of the new iPod, Jobs rented out a theater in San José and invited Iger to be his guest and a secret surprise at the end. "I had never been to one of his presentations, so I had no idea how big an event it was," Iger recalls. "It was a real breakthrough for our relationship. He saw that I was a fan of modern technology and that I was willing to take some risks." Jobs put on his usual virtuoso performance, showing the audience all the features and functions of the new iPod so that everyone could see that it was "one of the best things we've ever done ”, and also how the iTunes store will now also offer music videos and short films. Then, as was his habit, he concluded by saying, “And one more thing…” The iPod will sell TV series. There was a huge round of applause. He mentioned that the two most popular series are produced by ABC. “And who owns ABC? Disney! I know those people," he cheered.

When Iger took the stage, he seemed as relaxed as Jobs. “One of the things Steve and I really like about this is the combination of amazing technology with amazing content,” he said. "I'm happy to be here to announce the expansion of our relationship with Apple," he added, after a proper pause, adding, "Not with Pixar, but with Apple."

However, it was clear from their warm embrace that Pixar and Disney would be able to work together again. "That's how I envisioned my leadership — love, not war," says Iger. "We fought a war with Roy Disney, with Comcast, with Apple and with Pixar. I wanted to settle everything, especially with Pixar.” Iger had just returned from the grand opening of Disney's new theme park in Hong Kong. At his side was Eisner, last as executive director. The celebration included the usual big Disney parade down Main Street. In doing so, Iger realized that the only characters in the parade that had been created in the last ten years were those from Pixar. "The light bulb went off," he recalls. “I was standing next to Michael, but I kept it to myself because it would challenge the way he directed animation for ten years. After ten years The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast a Aladdin ten years of nothing followed.”

Iger returned to Burbank, where he conducted a financial analysis and found, among other things, that the animated film division had suffered in the past decade. At his first meeting as CEO, he presented the results of his analysis to the board, whose members were understandably upset that they had never been told anything of the sort. "As animation thrives, so does our entire company," Iger said. "A successful animated film is like a big wave that covers all sectors of our business - from characters in parades to music, theme parks, video games, television, the Internet and even children's toys. If we don't make these waves, the company won't thrive.” He presented them with several options. Either keep the current management in the animated film division, which, according to him, did not work, or get rid of him and find someone else, but unfortunately he does not know of anyone suitable. And the last option was to buy Pixar. "The problem is, I don't know if it's for sale, and if it were, it would no doubt cost a lot of money," he said. The board of directors gave him permission to begin negotiations with Pixar about it.

Iger went about it unusually. When he first spoke with Jobs, he admitted what he realized while watching the Disney parade in Hong Kong and how it convinced him definitively that Disney desperately needed Pixar. "I just like Bob Iger for this," Jobs recalls. "It just rubs off on you. This is the dumbest thing you can do at the beginning of a negotiation, at least according to the traditional rules. He just laid the card on the table and said, 'We're in the red. ' I liked the guy right away because I work like that too. Let's throw the cards on the table and see how they fall.” (This wasn't really Jobs' approach. He usually opened negotiations by declaring that the other party's products or services were worthless. )

Jobs and Iger took a lot of walks together—the Apple campus, Palo Alto, Allen and Co. in Sun Valley. First, they put together a plan for a new distribution deal: Pixar would get back all the rights to the movies and characters it had already produced, and in return Disney would get a fair share of Pixar, and Pixar would pay him a flat fee to distribute his future movies. But Iger was concerned that the deal would make Pixar a big rival to Disney, which wouldn't be good even if Disney had a stake in Pixar.

So he started suggesting to Jobs that maybe they should do something bigger. “I want you to know that I'm really considering this from all angles,” he said. Apparently Jobs wasn't against it. "It wasn't long before it became clear to both of us that our discussion might turn to the subject of an acquisition," Jobs recalls.

But first, Jobs needed the blessing of John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, so he asked them to come to his house. And he spoke directly to the point. "We need to get to know Bob Iger," he told them. “We could put it together with him and help him resurrect Disney. He's a great guy.”

The two were skeptical at first. "He might say we were in shock," Lasseter recalls. "If you don't want to do that, fine, but I'd like you to meet Bob Iger before you make up your mind," Jobs continued. "I had the same feelings as you, but I ended up really liking the guy." He explained to them how easy it was to get ABC shows on the iPod, adding, "This is completely different than Eisner's Disney, it's like night and day . He's a straight guy, no showmanship.” Lasseter recalls how he and Catmull just sat there for a while with their mouths agape.

Iger went to work. He flew from Los Angeles to Lasseter's home for lunch, met his wife and family, and stayed until midnight talking. He also took Catmull to dinner and then visited the Pixar studio, alone, unaccompanied and without Jobs. “I met all the directors there, one by one, and each told me about their film,” he says. Lasseter was proud of the way his team impressed Iger, and of course Iger grew fond of him. "I was more proud of Pixar then than I've ever been," he says. "Everyone was amazing and Bob was absolutely blown away by it all."

When Iger saw what was in store for the coming years— Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E – came back and confided in his CFO at Disney: “Jesus Christ, they have such great stuff! We just have to agree with them. This is about the future of the company.” He admitted that he did not believe in the films that were being worked on at Disney.

They eventually put together a deal whereby Disney would buy Pixar for $7,4 billion in stock. Jobs will then become Disney's largest shareholder with approximately seven percent of the shares - Eisner owned only 1,7 percent and Roy Disney only one percent of the shares. The Disney Animation division will be brought under Pixar and Lasseter and Catmull will lead it all. Pixar will retain its independent identity, its studio and headquarters will remain in Emeryville, and it will retain its own Internet domain.

Iger asked Jobs to bring Lasseter and Catmull to a secret morning Disney board meeting in Century City, Los Angeles, on Sunday. The goal was to prepare them for the fact that it would be a radical and financially costly step, so that they would not have a problem with it and would not eventually back down. As they were leaving the parking lot, Lasseter told Jobs, "If I get too excited or talk too long, put your hand on my leg." Jobs then only had to do it once, otherwise Lasseter was doing great. “I talked about how we make films, what our philosophy is, our openness and honesty with each other, and how we nurture each other's creative talents,” he recalls. The board asked a series of questions, and Jobs had Lasseter answer most of them. Jobs himself talked above all about how wonderful it is to combine art with technology. "That's what our whole culture is about, just like at Apple," he said. Iger recalls, "Their passion and enthusiasm completely captivated everyone."

Before Disney's board had a chance to approve the merger, Michael Eisner stepped in and tried to scuttle the deal. He phoned Iger and said it was too expensive. "You can put the animation together yourself," he told him. "And how?" asked Iger. "I know you can do it," Eisner declared. Iger began to lose patience. "Michael, how can you say I can do it myself when you couldn't?!" he asked.

Eisner said he wants to come to the board meeting — even though he's no longer a member or manager — and speak out against the acquisition. Iger was against it, but Eisner telephoned Warren Buffet, a major shareholder, and George Mitchell, who was chairman of the board. The former senator convinced Iger to let Eisner speak. "I told the board there was no need to buy Pixar because they already owned eighty-five percent of what Pixar had made," Eisner recalls. He was referring to the fact that for movies that have already been made, Disney has a share of the profits, plus the rights to make sequels and use characters from those movies. “I did a presentation where I said there's only fifteen percent of Pixar left that Disney doesn't own. And that's what they get. The rest is just a bet on future Pixar movies.” Eisner acknowledged that Pixar is doing well, but reminded that it may not be like that forever. “I pointed to a number of directors and producers in the history of film who made a few hits and then flopped. It happened to Spielberg, Walt Disney, and a lot of others.” To make the deal worthwhile, each new Pixar film would have to make $1,3 billion, Eisner calculated. "Steve was upset that I knew such things," Eisner later said.

When he finished his presentation, Iger refuted his arguments point by point. “Let me explain what's wrong with this presentation,” he began. After hearing them both, the board approved the deal as proposed by Iger.

Iger flew to Emeryville to meet Jobs to discuss the Pixar employee agreement. But even before that, Jobs met with Catmull and Lasseter. "If any of you have any doubts," he said, "I'll tell them 'thanks, I don't want to' and blow the whistle on the deal." But he wasn't entirely sure himself. At this point it would be almost impossible. However, they welcomed his gesture. "I don't have a problem with that," Lasseter said. "Let's do it." Catmull agreed as well. Then everyone hugged and Jobs broke down in tears.

Everyone then gathered in the atrium. "Disney is buying Pixar," Jobs announced. Tears glistened in some eyes, but as he explained the nature of the deal, it began to dawn on employees that it was a sort of upside down acquisition. Catmull will be head of Disney animation, Lasseter will be art director. Finally, everyone cheered. Iger stood off to the side and Jobs invited him to come before the assembled employees. When Iger then spoke about Pixar's exceptional culture and how Disney must nurture it and learn from it, the crowd erupted in applause.

"My goal is not just to make great products, but to build great companies," Jobs later said. "Walt Disney did it. And the way we did that merger, we allowed Pixar to remain a great company and helped Disney to remain one as well.”

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