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November 28, 2007

Disney To Make Up To 20 Startup Acquisitions In Next 24 Months

Michael Arrington

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A new group has been created within the corporate strategy group at Disney, we’ve heard, and they are gearing up to make a number of consumer Internet acquisitions over the next 24 months. They’re already in early stage discussions with at least a couple of startups, and have introduced themselves to a number of venture capitalists to generate leads.

The group is led by two vice presidents, Leigh Zarelli and Matt Pillar. Zarelli, based in New York, was previously at IAC and was one of the cofounders of Gifts.com. Pillar, a former managing partner at Catalytic Capital, is based in Burbank (near Los Angeles).

We won’t be seeing Club Penguin sized deals ($350 m) coming out of this group. Zarelli and Pillar are focusing only on very early stage deals, we hear. Consumer facing content companies that will fit in to Disney’s overall strategy will be targeted. Their goal, according to our source, is to complete up to twenty deals over the next 24 months.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 7:38 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Allen Stern

    November 28th, 2007 at 7:40 am

    Damn, I knew I should have taken that Director role in 2005.

  2. Fred Hoyle

    November 28th, 2007 at 7:53 am

    Disney, please go for digg/mixx & popurls.

  3. Michael Arrington

    November 28th, 2007 at 7:55 am

    I’m not sure Disney could handle the digg community.

  4. Allen Stern

    November 28th, 2007 at 7:58 am

    disney would make no sense in acquiring digg - in fact, no one should acquire digg.

    I could see some travel services - tripit, etc.

  5. Chris R.

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:07 am

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....nder-deal/

    I can’t confirm this, but I heard that they were the main competitor to Penthouse in this deal. Ultimately the ask price of AFF will be driven through the roof by tonight.

    I heard that somewhere. That Mickey was going to get greasy with the peoples.

  6. I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:11 am

    Holy God, a Photoshopped image on TechCrunch that doesn’t look like it was done with Pritt Stick. Did you make it yourself or GIS it?

  7. John Pacini

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    I’m not sure which direction Disney will go with this initiative. Some might say that sites like ours would fit into this mix - that is, early stage, family-focused startups that have some type of interesting approach to the mom or family market - but they could also be looking to expand their reach with more ‘unexpected’ acquisitions. They are still fine-tuning the Disney Family platform, so at least a few traditional moves could be in the cards to ehnance that environment. OpMom’s approach is organizing mom’s busy life in the context of social networking, but there are others who focus on other areas that might add value. As a small player in their sandbox, it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

  8. Chris R.

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:16 am

    http://www.topsocialite.com/va.....er-career/
    “Vanessa Hudgens naughty photographs haven’t hurt her standing with Disney.”
    Was this the prequel? I bet AFF is gone by the end of the day in a bitter bidding war!
    :)

  9. Henry Long

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:16 am

    Good companies to buy:

    Cellufun
    GetJar
    Saavn
    Greystripe
    Jaman
    Vantrix

  10. Steven

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:24 am

    Are these guys looking to make outright acquisitions or just invest? And if its just invest does anyone know how to reach out to these guys to pitch?

  11. Chris R.

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:28 am

    @10,

    Hire an advisor. I wouldn’t, but if you can’t answer that question, you definitely should.

  12. Digital Life

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:35 am

    Disney, Digg is def. not for you ….

  13. Chris R.

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:38 am

    WTF Happened to the Gadgets category missing on Youtube?

    Robert Scoble says you’re never supposed to make a blog post then make it disappear after. I didn’t get it in a screenshot, but still. Damn. Stick to your guns or think twice before posting.

    Somebody saw your mistake. I did.

  14. Per Lindquist

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am

    If they’re savvy - which they occasionally are - they’ll buy sites that will feed their other entertainment assets (personally, I’d rather see a movie based on JackSawJane than on Digg…).

  15. davidlynch79

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:47 am

    I’m not sure Disney management + cutting edge software development fit in the same same sentence. I wonder if disney is saying, we want to do something on the web, but we don’t know how, maybe someone could give them some honest advice, maybe a youtube disney page, a ning social network. That’s just my opinion.

  16. frugal goose

    November 28th, 2007 at 8:48 am

    Great now kids can spend even more time in front of a computer screen or tv screen

  17. Steven

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:02 am

    @ Chris R
    The funny thing about your derogatory comment is that you have absolutely no idea who I am, which company I represent or what my position is.

    My question was not because I am ignorant and in need of an advisor, it was a genuine question to see if anyone from the techcrunch “community” had a sensible way to reach out to these guys or knew more about what they’re looking for to do.

    Before you go mouthing off trying to look smug, just be aware that perhaps you don’t know as much as you think you do.

  18. Joseph

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:07 am

    Digg is for the people. Made famous by the people. If the people (diggs community) sense the slightest change in intention, they’ll switch to mixx or the sort.

  19. Chris R.

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:07 am

    “The funny thing about your derogatory comment is that you have absolutely no idea who I am, which company I represent or what my position is.”
    Does it matter?

    “My question was not because I am ignorant and in need of an advisor”
    It’s up to you.

    “a sensible way to reach out to these guys or knew more about what they’re looking for to do.”
    I think you do need an advisor. When I reach out to people at random, it’s not because I actually need their help. I’m just casting a net. I don’t think that’s what you want.

    “Before you go mouthing off trying to look smug, just be aware that perhaps you don’t know as much as you think you do.”
    OK, That’s fair. I guess we’re always learning. I wasn’t exactly trying to look smug though. I’m just flipping back and forth between here and Eclipse making snappy, flippant comments full of wit.

  20. TheDaily

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:21 am

    RE: contacting the guys at Disney, I have an idea. Call the main number for the Burbank office and ask to be connected to Matt Pillar. There I go again, solving problems….

  21. Techie

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:22 am

    I agree with fred,Disney should go for Digg

  22. TheDaily

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:24 am

    And one more thing… You can always try:

    firstname.lastname@disney.com….

    Good luck. Getting the contact is easy. Getting in the door and pitching well.. Well, not so much.

  23. Brian B

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am

    what about the companies that disney’s VC arm has invested in?

  24. Chris R.

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:31 am

    “And one more thing… You can always try:
    firstname.lastname@disney.com….”

    http://www.google.com/search?q=eisner%40disney.com
    Oh dear, Google has information in spades! No wonder I’m building a search engine.

    BTW, they will never reply. Having talked to a plethora of Internet rich men and powerful IT figures, I can say with 1000% certainty that they will contact you first. Every single time. Don’t call them, they’ll call you.

  25. Yakov

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:32 am

    We would sell our kids’ search engine to them for a billion :), just like mail.ru’s shareholders recently did (see on http://ru.blognation.com)

  26. Wayne Lambright

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:33 am

    I’ll believe it when I see it.

  27. Jen

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:46 am

    @ 7 (John P),

    Way to be subtle.

  28. Shafqat

    November 28th, 2007 at 9:51 am

    Chris R - I disagree. I’ve reached out to a lot of ‘powerful IT figures’ and the response has been very positive, heartfelt, and genuinely helpful. If you don’t sound like a ‘PR type’ and are just looking for feedback, you’d be surprised at the number of people who dont mind helping out. Sure, some will tell you to get lost, but I’ve found an overlwhelming majority will take the time to hear your story.

  29. Rich

    November 28th, 2007 at 10:48 am

    Don’t forget they own ESPN and ABC also.

  30. DesiScreen

    November 28th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    Hmm, that’s an acquistion a month on average for the next coupe of years. I am skeptical about them meeting this goal. But this is good for media startup companies.

    Raja
    http://www.desiscreen.com

  31. code of the cave

    November 28th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    They already know who there going to approach

  32. UberInvestor.com

    November 28th, 2007 at 2:11 pm

    Great News! Microsoft will be making 20 acquisitions a year too.

  33. Duncan Riley

    November 28th, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    Is this in addition to Steamboat Ventures or an extension of their current investment strategy?

  34. Steve Ballmer

    November 28th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

    “Disney copies Microsoft again!”
    Think, did’nt I say this a month ago?

    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

  35. ADK

    November 28th, 2007 at 4:22 pm

    FUCK EVERYTHING

  36. Kevin Burton

    November 28th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

    $10 says one of them is them is Dogster.

  37. Ed

    November 28th, 2007 at 10:23 pm

    Maybe Disney should acquire a blogging community site for their members.
    For instance, if Disney HK wants to look for startup in this area,

    LifesterBlog.com

    is a good choice

  38. King Tut

    November 29th, 2007 at 10:37 pm

    I think Steven (#17) has a small penis.

    Hows that for a “derogatory comment” where “[I] have absolutely no idea who” you are, or “which company [you] represent or what [your] position is”?

    Ease up man. Go take a spin in your Ferrari. Chris was trying to help.

  39. old man

    December 5th, 2007 at 3:33 pm

    Dinsey should look at RRR, a cool start up company. Check out http://www.educationalrap.com/news/index.html

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