Pixar, DreamWorks: Wall Street Loves Animation

by Alex Russel

The entertainment business is known for its ups and downs. Countless investors have lost their shirts by betting on show business. So to give an idea of how well animation is doing right now, two recent Wall Street news items will be of particular interest.

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In the first piece of news, Pixar, the animation company headed by Apple founder Steve Jobs, recently announced that it would be splitting their publicly traded stock. Stock splitting is done when a company feels confident and wants more of its stock available to a wider pool of investors. It's a cry of confidence.

Pixar Impresses Wall Street

Since the company went public, Pixar has done impressively well on Wall Street, especially once its global smash hit The Incredibles came out in theatres last Thanksgiving. Now the DVD is selling like hot cakes, as well.

DreamWorks Animation Steals the Show

The other Wall Street animation story is the success of DreamWorks Animation. When DreamWorks was founded in the 1990's, everyone thought that the teaming of entertainment titans Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg would quickly turn into a major movie studio a la Warner Brothers or Sony Pictures.

Instead what happened is that the film company has had modest success, but the powerhouse animation department became a Wall Street darling in its own right. Last year, DreamWorks made the surprising decision of turning their animation wing into a publicly traded company on Wall Street and keeping the rest private.

Animation Exceeds Expectations

And it was a good idea. Helped by home video revenue from Shrek 2, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (its official name) easily exceeded analyst expectations for earnings in the fourth quarter - its first full quarter as a public company.

Next up for DreamWorks is Madagascar, an epic animation film that Katzenberg claims is getting praise from advance audiences that rivals that of Shrek before it opened.

Animation Jobs Worth Getting

All this to say that animation is turning out to be one of the surest bets in entertainment today. With technology constantly outdoing itself, audiences continue to get dazzled by the films coming out of the Pixar and DreamWorks pipe lines. Who knows, maybe you can get a job there?

About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn, NY. Lucky enough to grow up in Europe with family all over the world, he has been a consummate traveler his whole life. Since graduating from Syracuse University he has worked at many different media companies in fields as diverse as film, TV, advertising, and journalism. He holds a dual bachelor's degree in English and History.

Sources

• http://www.mirror.co.uk

Posted on May 13, 2005 at 09:33 PM