Disney’s Iger pays tribute to Apple’s Steve Jobs

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Disney President Bob Iger, perhaps the closest entertainment executive to Steve Jobs, said the Apple co-creator leaves a legacy that will ‘extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built.’

Jobs, who died Wednesday at age 56 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, was on Disney’s board of directors and was seen as a key advisor to the company on digital strategies. He also, of course, sold Pixar to Disney for more than $7 billion, which made him the entertainment giant’s largest shareholder.

‘Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started,’ Iger said in a statement released by Disney.

Jobs played an instrumental role in the television industry’s move to migrate content from the big screen to the computer screen, the iPod and most recently the iPad. In 2005, it was Jobs who cut a groundbreaking deal with Walt Disney Co.’s ABC to sell ABC programs on iTunes just one day after the episodes had aired on the network.

Jim Gianopulos, the co-chairman of News Corp.’s Fox Filmed Entertainment unit, said that ‘Steve’s genius transformed the way we work, play, live and think’ and that Jobs will ‘remain an inspiration forever.’

RELATED:

Apple co-founder and visionary Steve Jobs dies

Apple’s Steve Jobs revolutionized TV too

-- Joe Flint