Pixar

Pixar began as the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, established in 1979 to develop CGI for Star Wars sequels. The division, led by Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, produced groundbreaking computer graphics but never became central to Lucas's filmmaking. By 1985, facing expensive divorce proceedings, Lucas decided to sell the division. He sold it to the first buyer willing to pay: Steve Jobs, recently fired from Apple.

Steve Jobs purchased the Lucasfilm computer graphics division in 1986 for $5 million, renaming it Pixar. Jobs later said he had not understood what he was buying — he thought he was acquiring a hardware company that made high-end graphics workstations. The animation capabilities were, in his view, secondary. He invested $50 million in the company before Toy Story was released, reportedly losing money every year and wondering if he'd made a catastrophic mistake.

Toy Story, released in November 1995, was the world's first fully computer-animated feature film. It grossed $362 million worldwide and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Jobs had invested $50 million in Pixar before its IPO; after Toy Story, Pixar's IPO valued the company at $1.5 billion. The hardware company nobody wanted had become the most creatively significant animation studio since Walt Disney himself.

Pixar's relationship with Disney deteriorated under Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Pixar produced Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and The Incredibles — all massive hits — while Disney animated sequels to Pixar properties without Pixar's involvement. In January 2004, Jobs announced that Pixar would not renew its distribution deal with Disney, saying the relationship had broken down. The standoff ended when Eisner resigned and Bob Iger became Disney CEO — his first major act was acquiring Pixar outright.

Disney acquired Pixar in January 2006 for $7.4 billion in stock. Steve Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder. Ed Catmull and John Lasseter took over Disney Animation, eventually producing Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana. The $5 million that Jobs had paid for a computer hardware company with an animation department had become $7.4 billion in twenty years — a 1,480x return on what had begun as a fire sale by a divorcing filmmaker who just needed cash.