Disney and Maker Studios’ Big Deal May Be Smaller Than They Thought

photo: Re/Code

[I]ndustry sources say both sides of the transaction now seem less enthusiastic about each other, and there’s lots of speculation that Maker CEO Ynon Kreiz and other top execs will leave Disney at the end of this year — the same time that Maker’s earn-out period wraps up. And while Maker has continued to grow since the Disney acquisition, it doesn’t look like it will hit all of the “strong performance targets” Disney laid out at the beginning of the deal. People around Maker who thought the company would get the majority of its earn-out money now think Disney may end up paying half of the total by the time the deal ends. – Peter Kafka, Re/code