Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, the banks which led Disney's successful defence against a $67bn (€54.5bn) hostile attack from rival US media group Comcast last year, have advised the studio on its $7.4bn bid for rival Pixar.

Goldman was sole adviser to Disney on its $5.2bn acquisition of television studio Fox Family Worldwide in 2001. In 1999 the bank led Disney's $1.5bn acquisition of Infoseek, a US internet business with supporting advice from Bear Stearns and Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin.