George Lucas Plans to Keep $2.02 Billion in Disney Stock
George Lucas has no plans to sell his $2.02 billion stake in Walt Disney Co., his spokeswoman said, following a regulatory filing by the company that allows the “Star Wars” creator to divest the stock at his discretion.
Lucas, 68, holds 37.1 million shares of Burbank, California-based Disney, a 2.1 percent stake, according to a registration yesterday by the film, TV and theme-park company. Disney agreed to register the stock as part of its accord to purchase the filmmaker’s Lucasfilm Ltd. The deal was completed on Dec. 21.
“George Lucas currently has no plans to sell his Disney stock,” Lynne Hale, a spokeswoman for Lucasfilm, said in an e- mail. “This was a required filing in conjunction with the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney.”
Lucas plans to donate most of the proceeds from the sale of his company to education, the Hollywood Reporter said at the time of the deal, without mentioning a specific school or group.
Disney fell 0.3 percent to $54.36 at the close in New York. The stock has advanced 9.2 percent this year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has gained 5.8 percent.
The company bought Lucas’s “Star Wars” empire for stock and a cash payment of $2.21 billion to develop a new film series based on the sci-fi adventure movies. Robert Iger, Disney’s chairman and chief executive officer, said this week the world’s largest entertainment company also planned two films based on characters from the series.
With the sale of his company, Lucas became the second- largest non-institutional shareholder in Disney, behind the trust of late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who sold Pixar to Disney in 2006.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Golum in Los Angeles at rgolum@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net
George Lucas Files to Sell Entire $2.01 Billion of Disney Stake
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and director George Lucas on the set of "Star Wars." Photograph: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation/Everett Collection
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and director George Lucas on the set of "Star Wars." Photograph: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation/Everett Collection
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