Robert Iger: He [Steve Jobs] said, "I've made myself a promise that I'm going to be alive for Reed's graduation from high school." [Reed is Jobs's eldest son.]
So I say, of course, "How old is Reed?"
He tells me that Reed is fourteen, and will be graduating in four years. He says, "Frankly, they tell me I've got a fifty-fifty chance of living five years."
"Are you telling me this for any other reason than wanting to get it off your chest?" I asked.
He says, "I'm telling you because I'm giving you a chance to back out of the deal."
So I look at my watch, and we've got thirty minutes. In thirty minutes we're going to make this announcement [that Disney is buying Pixar]. We've got television crews, we've got the board votes, we've got investment bankers. The wheels are turning. And I'm thinking, We're in this post Sarbanes-Oxley world, and Enron, and fiduciary responsibility, and he is going to be our largest shareholder, and I'm now being asked to bury a secret. He told me, "My kids don't know. Not even the Apple board knows. Nobody knows, and you can't tell anybody."
Basically, thanks. ...
Selflessness, and dickishness. Wrapped up in one package.
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