1st McDonald’s Duck May Arise From Alliance

Mickey Mouse and Mickey D are making up.

After a prolonged chill in its relationship with McDonald’s Corp., Walt Disney Co. is negotiating a 10-year promotional alliance with the fast-food chain, part of Disney’s strategy to keep a stranglehold on American pop culture by teaming with leaders in related industries.

Disney has mainly turned to the No. 2 hamburger chain, Burger King, to help promote movies since 1991, with tie-ins to films such as “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Toy Story.”

A Disney executive said Wednesday that the new deal would be broader. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the executive confirmed a Daily Variety report that McDonald’s would originate 14 to 17 promotions a year; sponsor Disney’s new Florida theme park, Wild Animal Kingdom; and pay $100 million in royalties.

Ken Green, a spokesman for Burbank-based Disney, and Jane Hulbert, a spokeswoman for Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s, declined comment.

Such an alliance, which is not yet finalized, would revive a Disney-McDonald’s relationship that largely soured during a 1990 dispute over “Dick Tracy.” It also would be yet another in a recent series of pacts between Disney and other market leaders.

Disney shares fell $2.75 to $60.875 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange on news that the former chairman of its studio division, Jeffrey Katzenberg, had sued Disney for $250 million in a profit dispute.

McDonald’s shares were unchanged on the NYSE at $47.25.

Disney is buying Capital Cities/ABC Inc. for $19 billion. Last week it struck a three-year deal giving No. 1 toy maker Mattel Inc. global toy rights to Disney movie and TV properties. And when Coca-Cola Co., a Disney theme park supplier, funded a new advertising venture last year, Disney was a minority owner.

For consumers, the bottom line could range from Disney consumer products displays at McDonald’s restaurants to McDonald’s restaurants at Disney theme parks.