Disney completes purchase of Pixar

LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney Co completed its acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios Inc. on the weekend shortly after Pixar shareholders voted to approve the transaction.

The all-stock transaction calls for Pixar shareholders to receive 2.3 shares of Disney stock in exchange for each Pixar share. At the time it was announced in January, the transaction was valued at $7.4 billion ($11.59 billion), based on Disney's then-share price of $25.52.

Disney's share price has since risen 14 per cent to $29.09 on Saturday.

With the deal's closing, Pixar Chief Executive Steve Jobs joins the Disney board of directors as its 14th member.

The vote was taken at a special meeting of shareholders in San Francisco presided over by Pixar Chief Financial Officer Simon Bax. About 250 shareholders attended the meeting, but Jobs was not among them.

Jobs, who owns 50.6 per cent of Pixar common shares, had agreed in January in the merger pact with Disney to vote 40 per cent of those shares in favour of the deal.

- REUTERS