Disney board approves $7B Pixar acquisition

Its official. The Walt Disney Company today announced the acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios, the blockbuster animation studio majority owned by Apple's Steve Jobs, for $7.4 billion.

Jobs will take a seat on the Disney board and Pixar President Ed Catmull will serve as president of the new Pixar and Disney animation studios. Pixar's creative genius, John Lasseter will serve as chief creative officer of the animation studios, and will report directly to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

According to a Bloomberg story:

Disney, the second-largest U.S. media company, will pay about $59.78 a share for Pixar in a transaction expected to be completed in the middle of the year, the companies said today. That's a 3.8 percent premium over Emeryville, California-based Pixar's closing stock price of $57.57.

Pixar shareholders will receive 2.3 Disney shares for every Pixar share they own, a move that will make Jobs the largest individual shareholder of Disney.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close this summer.