Even though the NYSE is shut down, big business moves are still being made. The Walt Disney company has purchased LucasFilms Ltd. from George Lucas for $4.05 billion dollars in stocks and cash.

“The sale provides a corporate home for a private company that grew from Mr. Lucas’s hugely successful “Star Wars” series, and became an enduring force in creating effects-driven science fiction entertainment for large and small screens. Mr. Lucas, who is 68 years old, had already announced he would step down from day-to-day operation of the company.

Combined with the purchase of Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009 and of Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion in 2006, the acquisition also guarantees the legacy of Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, as a builder who aggressively expanded the company since taking charge in 2005.”

Props to NY Times & [AlLindstrom]