Source
r/StarWars•
Rex_Partysaurus

Did George Lucas give away Lucasfilm?

General Discussion

Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012.

By comparison Activtision bought King Digital (makers of Candy Crush) for $5.9 billion in 2016.

Microsoft just bought Bethesda (developers of Fallout franchise) for $7.5 billion.

Now I haven’t done an in depth study into any of the financial reportings of any of these companies, and I also recognize that in some respects we are comparing apples to oranges. But even at the time in 2012 $4 Billion seemed incredibly low.

The article I read compared the buyout of Bethesda to Lucasfilm buyout to justify just how lucrative the video game industry has become. I’m not sure that is a fair comparison if GL didn’t actually seek Fair Market Value.

GL donated all of that buyout to charity. He also left Star Wars in the hands of people he thought who could/would continue the legacy. Neither of which points to a man who is simply ready to cash in their chips.

Thoughts/insight?

Posted Sep 21, 2020, 10:29 PM UTC · edited

312
GregThePrettyGoodGuy•

Basically, yeah. He wanted to retire, didn’t really need the money, and Disney gave him the best offer - plus they’d had a long standing business relationship with Star Tours and Pixar.

12
Ein_SchattenwaechterTorra Doza•

Probably, but at the same time things like King Digital were making hand over fist on money on the cheap (and probably in a bidding war or something) and Bethesda was one of the heavies of the game industry, whereas Lucasfilm was effectively in stasis with their only major project being a teamup with another group to produce an expensive TV show.

Like, the prestige of LF was there, but that's really all LF in 2012 had to drive up the selling cost.

7
sk8njames•

I believe he received Disney stock (37,076,679 shares) and cash. He probably going to make significantly more after selling his stock.

6
--TheForce--•

Disney was trading for around $46 when he sold, and it closed today at $125, so you are absolutely correct here.

5
estofaulty•

He donated most of the money to charity.

3
ZZartin•

Well for one thing he didn't get it all in straight cash he got a chunk of it in stock. He only gave away the cash so he's still got mad money from the sale.

And lucas industries was not making nearly as much revenue as king digital or bethesda, disney was largely buying it to own the franchise, hence why they were so eager to start cranking out new star wars content not just let LF keep going as is.

As for Lucas not selling out? If he'd wanted to make more star wars content himself he would and could have but he wasn't.

4
BespinFatigues1230Admiral Ackbar•

He also received a ton of shares in TWDC

3
DrJawnDarth Vader•

Or maybe the dollar is just becoming more and more worthless

2
jmsturmThe Mandalorian•

4 years is a big deal in terms of deals. Had he sold it now he probably got more.

2
BrewtalDoom•

Bethesda is an actively successful company making a ton of money. The value in Lucasfilm is in the IP that it was holding, not in the products it was actively putting out. Yes, the Star Wars brand is extremely valuable, but you still have to invest your own money in using it in order to see a return.

With Bethesda you're buying a racing car that's winning races left, right and centre. Lucasfilm was a great car, but one that was in the garage and needed a bit of work to get it going again.

2
not_a_flying_toy_•

its roughly the same as they bought Marvel for a few years earlier. Keep in mind Marvel was an up and running company with many films actively in production and Lucasfilm was basically only just starting to ramp up for production, and was largely in the TV, post production, and licensing space

2
Forach88•

and george lucas also gets brought in for consulting in many star wars movies and shows

0†
nikgrid•

But clearly they didn't listen to him when it came to the ST.

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