Famous film outfit Lucasfilm which produced some of the world’s most popular movie of all time, the Star Wars franchise was bought by Walt Disney in a multi-billion deal worth $4 Billions.
Lucasfilm is 100% owned by founder George Lucas, the curator of Star Wars. The purchase is the culmination of a one and a half year pursuit of the Lucas Empire by Disney’s CEO.
According to Bloomberg with the purchase of Lucasfilm, George Lucas will receive 40 Million Disney shares from the deal. He will be the second largest non-institutional shareholder of Disney, just behind the trust of deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The 68-year-old film maker George Lucas will serve as a creative consultant but plans to retire. He was even quoted as saying “For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars p(–foul word(s) removed–)ed from one generation to the next,” said Lucas, chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm, in a statement.
Meanwhile according to Disney CEO Rober Iger who was quoted as saying “This is one of the great entertainment properties of all time, one of the best branded and one of the most valuable, and it’s just fantastic for us to have the opportunity to both buy it, run it and grow it.” CEO Rober Iger stated.
The buyout of Lucasfilm by Disney is their fourth largest deal. Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC in 1995, Pixar in 2006, Fox Family on 2001 and Marvel in August 2009.
