Bringing color into the animation industry
Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985 for unspecified reasons. Some speculate that he departed Apple to seek a new path. In any event, Jobs did not take any time off from Apple during his absence. Jobs immediately joined Pixar, an animation firm, in 1986. Pixar began with the moniker NeXT Inc before branching out into graphical animation. He brought color into the animation industry.
Former Disney animator John Lasseter was quietly providing a roadmap for Pixar's future by using in-house technology for innovative content. His two-minute Luxo Jr. (1986), showing two desk lamps playfully interacting with one another, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short. Two years later, the five-minute Tin Toy became the first computer-animated film to claim the Oscar in that category.
Pixar has become a major force in the animated film industry in less than a decade. They collaborated with industry titans like Disney to create box office blockbusters in computer-animated films. Toy Story series (1995 and 1999), The Incredibles (2004), Monsters Inc (2001), In Search of Nemo (2003), WALL-E (2008), and others deserve special notice.
Overall, Pixar, Jobs' firm, generated billions of dollars at the box office. Pixar became one of the most lucrative animation firms in the world because of Jobs' enormous business skills. Jobs earned more than $7 billion in 2006 when Disney acquired Pixar. Remember that his original investment in Pixar was only roughly $10 million.
