VOL-8 Test 4 Passage 3 — IELTS Reading

A. Between 2000 and 2005. under former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael D. Eisner, Walt Disney Company set its shareholder meetings in a series of cold-weather cities during cold-weather months. Many suspected that this had been to discourage attendance by the company's increasingly restless shareholders. In 2006, however, there was no need for such measures. In October 2005, Chief Operating Officer Robert Iger had replaced Eisner as CEO. On taking charge. Iger had quickly carried out a bold stroke, negotiating a buyout of Pixar Animation Studios. Although the price was high, the acquisition proved to be overwhelmingly popular.

A. Between 2000 and 2005. under former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael D. Eisner, Walt Disney Company set its shareholder meetings in a series of cold-weather cities during cold-weather months. Many suspected that this had been to discourage attendance by the company's increasingly restless shareholders. In 2006, however, there was no need for such measures. In October 2005, Chief Operating Officer Robert Iger had replaced Eisner as CEO. On taking charge. Iger had quickly carried out a bold stroke, negotiating a buyout of Pixar Animation Studios. Although the price was high, the acquisition proved to be overwhelmingly popular.

B. Pixar had started life twenty years earlier as Pixar Inc., a computer hardware company, one of hundreds dotting the landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Within the company, a tiny animation group made short promotional films that brought in practically zero revenue; the group came close more than once to being shut down. When the Pixar Image Computer proved unprofitable. the company turned to selling animation software and making animated commercials, but it kept losing money year after year.

C. In 1991. when Disney agreed to finance the production of Pixar's first feature film for cinema release. Disney had virtually dictated the terms of the contract. In late 1993. Disney considered ordering Pixar to shut down production of the John Lasseter directed film. Toy Story. on account of issues with the script. At the time, Hollywood commentators doubted whether audiences would even sit through a full-length film in the new medium of computer animation. It was unclear whether computer animation would prove to be a novelty that would quickly wear thin.

D. Before long. however, things had changed dramatically. A succession of beloved and commercially successful animated feature films, starting with the 1995 release of Toy Story and including A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo, made Pixar the world's dominant animation studio. Disney made a fortune distributing the films. When Pixar's majority owner and CEO. Steve Jobs, cut off contract talks with Disney in early 2004, as the end of their distribution contract was in sight, the business press focused on the question of how Disney would cope. By then, it was Disney that seemed to need Pixar-the distribution of Pixar's films made up around 45% of the operating income from Disney's film operations. Disney's internal market research showed that mothers of young children trusted the Pixar brand more than Disney's.

E. With the 2005 acquisition, John Lasseter was soon to hold the titles of Chief Creative Officer for Disney and Pixar animation and Principal Creative Advisor for Disney's worldwide theme parks and resorts. Having created a new genre of film with his colleagues at Pixar, Lasseter had been able to make the films he wanted to make, and he was coming back to Disney on his own terms, having briefly been an employee there when he was young.

F. When lger brought Lasseter on to speak at the 2006 shareholders' meeting. Lasseter was met with energetic applause as the sound system played a few bars of the signature song of Toy Story. In his speech, Lasseter recalled afternoons as a schoolboy running home to catch Bugs Bunny cartoons on TV. It wasn't long. he told the audience, before he realized he wanted to earn a living from making cartoons. He went on to talk about working on the Jungle Cruise ride in Disneyland, and the terrible jokes that he and his fellow operator told to enliven the show. He said the experience had brought him out of his shell and given him confidence in front of people. He also explained how he joined Disney's animation division fresh out of the California Institute of the Arts, and saw one of the early trials of 3-D computer animation. He mentioned the disappointment he had felt as a young man in trying. and failing. to get the Disney studio to embrace the new technology. Keeping his presentation upbeat, he said simply. 'So I followed my dream to work with one of the most amazing people I've ever known in my life-Ed Catmull.'