Mickey stalks Thomas as Bob dithers

DISNEY has emerged as a potential bidder for Gullane, owner of the children's story character Thomas the Tank Engine. Disney is believed to have held preliminary talks with the company, which is effectively up for sale following a £157m offer from HIT Entertainment, owner of Bob the Builder.

HIT's approach ran into difficulties a fortnight ago when Gullane said sales of its Guinness Book Of Records operation in America were poor. HIT later said it was reconsidering its offer. Gullane suffered a new blow this weekend when it wrote down the value of its Bridgefilms offshoot, which owns rights to Sooty. A Disney source said: 'Gullane has properties that Disney finds interesting. Thomas is a substantial property.'

Gullane also owns several other characters, including Sooty. But Thomas the Tank Engine is the only one with proven worldwide potential. Japan even has a theme park dedicated to Thomas. HIT, which tried to acquire Gullane two years ago, is expected to come back with a lower offer for the company.

Worldwide, the character licensing market is reckoned to be worth about $42bn (£29bn) a year. But this figure grows to $175bn if sales of television rights, videos and DVDs are included. The biggest-selling character is Mattel's Barbie doll with worldwide sales of well over $2bn.

The Holy Grail for rights owners is the creation of a character that becomes a classic, as A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh has for Disney. The character is now bigger even than Mickey Mouse with Pooh's worldwide annual sales totalling about $1bn or 4% of Disney's total sales.