Analysis: Pixar's Steve Jobs To Join Disney BoardAnalysis: Pixar's Steve Jobs To Join Disney Board

With Pixar Animation Studios now officially a part of the Walt Disney Co., which paid $7.6 billion for the animated film creator Tuesday, a major question is just where does Steve Jobs go?

For starters, Jobs, who now owns about 6.5 percent of Disney's stock, will become a member of the Disney board, and as one Pixar executive put it, Jobs will be "a ball of fire" at Disney. Jobs will remain in his post as chief executive of Apple Computer where he has a very full plate.

Jobs is often described as brilliant and charismatic and Disney needs some brilliance and charisma in the wake of management upheaval and stockholder battles as well as a loss of traction in its own animation projects. He has ruled out becoming Disney's chairman, at least for now.

Apple has been on a tear lately, its stock soaring on its successful iPod products. But Apple's stock has dropped in recent days, and Apple still has a challenge to deliver on its new computers based on Intel processors.

For the time being the Pixar acquisition is all sweetness and light for Jobs and for new Disney CEO Robert Iger. Even Roy Disney, the firm's former vice chairman who led a bitter stockholder fight against the previous Disney management, praised the deal. According to the Wall Street Journal, Roy Disney said: "This clearly solidified the Walt Disney Company's position as the dominant leader in motion picture animation and we applaud and support Bob Iger's vision."