Walt Disney has bought Pixar Animation Studios in a $7.4 billion deal that gives Pixar animators creative control over the world's most famous cartoon studio and make Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder.
Under the agreement, expected to close this summer, Mr Jobs, who also heads Apple Computer, will join Disney's board of directors.
Disney also will surrender control of its world-famous animation studio, the birthplace of Mickey Mouse, to Pixar creative chiefs, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter.
Disney's animation studio will be combined with Pixar animation operations under Catmull's leadership but the two will maintain separate studios.
That hands-off management arrangement is similar to the one Disney adopted with Bristol, Connecticut-based ESPN cable sports network, which Disney acquired in 1996, Disney chief executive Robert Iger said.
Pixar's six films with Disney, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, have grossed more than $3.2 billion.
"As I considered the possibility of returning Disney animation to greatness, it was clear to me that maintaining a relationship with Pixar was essential," Mr Iger told analysts on a conference call.
Mr Jobs said he and Mr Iger spent the bulk of their discussions addressing how to preserve Pixar's free-wheeling creative culture, which both described as the key to its unbroken box office success.