If You Invested $1,000 In Disney Stock When They Acquired Pixar, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Walt Disney Co's DIS acquisition of Pixar has changed the media company forever with the Pixar content a large part of theme parks, movies and the company’s current all-in approach to streaming. Here’s how shares have done since the deal was announced.

Pixar Acquisition: On Jan. 24, 2006, Disney announced the acquisition of Pixar, which traded as PIXR on the Nasdaq.

The deal valued Pixar at $7.4 billion and gave each Pixar shareholder 2.3 shares of Disney for every Pixar share they owned.

“The acquisition combines Pixar’s preeminent creative and technological resources with Disney’s unparalleled portfolio of world-class family entertainment, characters, theme parks and other franchises, resulting in vast potential for new landmark creative output,” Disney said at the time.

Pixar titles have been massive at the box office with six of them grossing more than $300 million at the domestic box office. “The Incredible 2” and “Finding Dory” rank in the top 20 all-time for domestic box office at $608.6 million and $486.3 million, respectively.

Pixar was co-founded by Apple Inc AAPL co-founder Steve Jobs, who owned 50.6% of Pixar shares at the time of the deal. Jobs became a large Disney shareholder after the merger.

The Pixar acquisition was the first of three major content acquisition deals done in six years with Disney acquiring Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012. Disney also acquired BAMTech in 2017 to strengthen its streaming plans and 21st Century Fox in another content deal.

Related Link: Disney's Stock Pops After Company Doubles Down On Streaming

Investing $1000 In Pixar Deal: Shareholders who bought into Disney at the time of the Pixar deal have fared well.

A $1,0000 investment in Disney shares at the high price of $25.78 on Jan. 24, 2006, would’ve bought 38.78 shares. Those 38.78 shares would be valued at $6,852.25 today based on a share price of $176.65. The return does not include dividends paid out since the purchase.

Disney has profited handsomely from the Pixar acquisition with the content from the studio being represented well across all business lines. Pixar titles "Soul" and "Luca" were released free to Disney+ subscribers in a move to offer original Pixar content on the streaming platform.

Disney shareholders have also profited nicely from investing in the company.