The Ledger

Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.

clear all ✕

why aren't all 13 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable

Assertion Supported
Steve Jobs demanded 100% of Pixar film profits in renegotiation with Disney
“He proposes a deal to Eisner, and this is where the relationship becomes irreparable. Pixar should actually be getting a hundred percent of the profits, not 50%, and they're now prepared to fund the budget themselves, too. Disney would just get a 10% distribut…”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:31:35 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Top weekly Disney+ movies are consistently Pixar and Disney Animation
“We've heard that the vast majority of the top 15 movies viewed every week on Disney Plus are either Pixar or Disney Animation. Not live action, not Star Wars, not The Avengers. The stuff that kids watch over and over. And those Disney animation movies are all …”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:45:53 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Disney secretly formed Circle 7 Animation to make Pixar sequels without Pixar
“Disney actually does start a new studio inside the company called Circle Seven Animation. That will be tasked with developing, right away, Toy Story III, Monsters, Inc. II, and Finding Nemo II.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:33:27 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Pixar's IPO made Steve Jobs a billionaire, creating more wealth than Apple
“Pixar closes its first day of trading, At a one and a half billion dollar market cap, this is how big a hit Toy Story was and how much it was in the public consciousness. This is how Steve Jobs becomes a billionaire... He didn't make anywhere near that kind of…”
David Rosenthal Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:20:59 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Toy Story franchise generated at least $3.5B in direct revenue for Disney
“Toy Story alone did over four billion at the box office, which means one and a half to two billion to Disney. Thirty billion in retail sales so far. Lifetime of all Toy Story consumer goods. So with Disney's five percent licensing fee on that, that's another t…”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:44:51 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Original Pixar films have set no box office records in a decade
“If you look at the new Pixar films developed in the last 10 years, nine, 10 years, none of them have set new records. The only record setters and real smash hits are these sequels.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 4:02:13 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Toy Story was the first non-Disney animated blockbuster
“It made twenty-nine million in its opening weekend, went on to become the number one film in the U.S., and it was the first ever animated film That was a blockbuster that was not created by Disney.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:20:08 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Pixar generated up to half of Disney Studios' operating income
“Pixar films have accounted for as much as half of the studio, Walt Disney's, operating income in recent years.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:30:53 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Jobs invested $54M over 9 years and owned 78% of Pixar at IPO
“The numbers on Steve, he bought the company for five million dollars. He actually did dump fifty four million dollars into it. Over nine years. He was, like, wiring money for payroll and stuff like that, and on IPO day, he owned 78% of the company.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:21:32 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Toy Story rendering required 117 Sun computers running hours per frame
“In those days, each frame would take an hour or two to render, and they could only render like three and a half minutes of footage per week. They were on this Sun Microsystems hardware that was state of the art at the time, and they had a 117 of them clustered…”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:12:38 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Pixar's first customer check came from Disney for CAPS
“The first check to Pixar Inc. Is from Disney to work with them and create the CAPS system for improving their two D animation.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:03:03 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Jobs Paid $5M to Lucas and Invested $5M for 70% of Pixar in 1986
“He writes in 1986 a five million dollar check to George Lucas to buy the company. Another five million dollar check into a new entity that he just created to fund the company. It's formally named Pixar, and it is owned 70% by Steve Jobs and 30% by employees.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:01:29 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
Assertion Supported
Gilbert: Pixar only ever sold around 300 Pixar Image Computers
“These image computers are insanely expensive. They've only sold, like, 300 of them ever.”
Ben Gilbert Aug 10, 2026 ▶ 2:04:52 Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire · Acquired
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