How much money would it take to put a pair of mouse ears on your head? Small Internet companies should really think that question through, as fresh reports indicate that Disney is looking to acquire a lot of startups.
For all the wonderful stuff that Google’s employees get, the Googleplex still hasn’t earned the title of “happiest place on earth”; in that sense, it might be pretty nice to get acquired by Disney. Such acquisitions could, however, lead to a relatively higher rate of failure – Disney doesn’t have as much expertise in tech fields.
Still, so long as Disney doesn’t get overly ambitious, the money it’s willing to offer should appear quite reasonable to both sides of a bargaining table. “What the group is looking at is less-than-$20-million-upfront deals, and some cash and earnouts as the main formula to stick to,” reports Rafat Ali.
An earlier article from Michael Arrington asserts that as many as 20 of these arrangements could be made in the next two years. That would put Disney ahead of Microsoft’s buying binge in terms of frequency, though not in terms of dollars spent.
We’ll see how the acquisitions go, then. Steve Ballmer was fairly widely booed when he had this idea, but it’s only natural that Mickey and Minnie would get a better reception.
