`Walt Disney Co. offered to buy penguin character Pororo`

Ocon, the producer of Pororo the Little Penguin show, a popular Korean animation show, says it rejected an acquisition offer by the Walt Disney Company, which denies this as a groundless rumor.

Alannah Hall-Smith, vice president of Walt Disney’s Asia-Pacific operations, said in a news release Friday that her company is a Pororo fan but denied making a takeover offer. She called untrue news reports on Disney`s reported bid.

After claiming that Disney proposed buying Pororo, Ocon President Kim Il-ho told The Dong-A Ilbo over the phone, “I was asked in May at the office of the Walt Disney Company Korea president’s whether we were interested in selling Pororo, and we refused it gracefully.”

“No official document was delivered but Disney did make a proposal.”

Kim added, “I think Disney denies this because it considered the proposal unofficial. We`ve maintained good relations with Disney and hope the matter is not overanalyzed.”

Character industry sources say Disney’s response is due to fear of damage to the company`s reputation since the reported offer was worth 1 trillion won (944 million U.S. dollars).