Disney May Make Many Acquisitions

By Doug Caverly - Thu, 11/29/2007 - 12:46pm.

How much money would it take to put a pair of mouse ears on your head? Small Internet companies should really think that question through, as fresh reports indicate that Disney is looking to acquire a lot of startups.

Disney May Make Many Acquisitions For all the wonderful stuff that Google’s employees get, the Googleplex still hasn’t earned the title of “happiest place on earth”; in that sense, it might be pretty nice to get acquired by Disney. Such acquisitions could, however, lead to a relatively higher rate of failure - Disney doesn’t have as much expertise in tech fields.

Still, so long as Disney doesn’t get overly ambitious, the money it’s willing to offer should appear quite reasonable to both sides of a bargaining table. “What the group is looking at is less-than-$20-million-upfront deals, and some cash and earnouts as the main formula to stick to,” reports Rafat Ali.

An earlier article from Michael Arrington asserts that as many as 20 of these arrangements could be made in the next two years. That would put Disney ahead of Microsoft’s buying binge in terms of frequency, though not in terms of dollars spent.

We’ll see how the acquisitions go, then. Steve Ballmer was fairly widely booed when he had this idea, but it’s only natural that Mickey and Minnie would get a better reception.

News Tags: Deals, tech, Disney, Acquisitions , Ballmer

About the author:
Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

Comments

Submitted by Greghard (WPN reader) on Thu, 11/29/2007 - 6:33pm.

Tech Workers Be Warned!

One of Disney's favorite ball-busting tactics is to target long-term, seemingly "untouchable" employees with many years service. To prove its corporate might, Disney either harasses such employees into quitting, or manufactures enough "evidence" in varied unrelated areas to then illegally fire the
employee(s) in question. Union representation is a complete non-factor when this occurs; the affected employee is then blacklisted, and is effectively not allowed to make a living at his or her chosen craft. Labor-employment attorneys quake in terror at the sight & sound of Disney counterparts; Courts and the so-called "laws" against such economic assassination are useless. If you're a single-parent employee at a Disney-targeted firm, then the target on your own head is much larger and is getting much more attention...I speak of all this from personal experience, not 2nd-hand hearsay, so consider this your warning that I never received at ABC.

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