Disney to buy Pixar for $7.4 billion

New York: Walt Disney is buying Pixar Animation Studios Inc for $7.4 billion in a deal that could restore Disney's clout in animation. The animation studio is headed by Steve Jobs of Apple.

The deal is expected to be complete by this summer. Warner brothers and C-B-S are merging their forces and calling the new network "the C-W."

Disney will buy 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.

"With this transaction, we welcome and embrace Pixar's unique culture, which for two decades, has fostered some of the most innovative and successful films in history," Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said.

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, the theme park owner that also owns the ABC and ESPN TV networks, and Pixar have been talking for months about a new relationship.

Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will 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 Iger and Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

(With AP inputs)