Walt Disney Co (DIS +1.46%) is one of the most recognizable companies in the world, and for investors exploring how to invest in Disney, knowing what sits inside the company matters more than most people realize.
Almost everyone has had some kind of experience with a Disney product, whether that's watching a Disney movie, watching a show on one of its TV networks, or visiting a Disney theme park.
However, the company is much more than just its namesake brand. Today, Disney is a massive entertainment conglomerate, spanning movies, TV, theme parks, cruises, vacations, toys, and other consumer products, and sports.
Since the 1990s, Disney has grown through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Historically, the company has justified those acquisitions by arguing that they will expand its distribution reach or its content library. Today, it has an arguably unmatched trove of intellectual property from both the Disney brand and the other companies it's acquired.
Current CEO Bob Iger has been the force behind many of Disney's acquisitions and has earned a reputation as a top Hollywood dealmaker. Let's take a look at some of the acquisitions he's done and earlier ones, as well.
What companies does Disney own?
Disney today owns dozens of properties beyond those under the Disney brand. The subsidiaries under its umbrella include:
1. Capital Cities/ABC (1996): 100% ownership
Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC in 1996 for $19 billion. At the time, it was the second-largest corporate takeover in history. ABC was the most profitable of the three major television networks at that time, and Disney management saw it as an opportunity to expand its distribution and accelerate its growth
2. ESPN (1996): 80% ownership
Disney also acquired ESPN in the Capital Cities/ABC deal, or an 80% stake in the sports entertainment giant. Hearst still owns the other 20%.
At the time of the deal, then-CEO Michael Eisner argued that the deal gave Disney control of the two premier family entertainment brands, Disney and ESPN.
3. Winnie the Pooh (2001): 100% ownership
Disney had originally acquired the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters but had been paying royalties. The 2001 deal gave it the rights to the intellectual property for a lump sum payment of $350 million.
4. The Muppets (2004): 100% ownership
Disney had pursued The Muppets, a popular children's entertainment collection, for 14 years and finally acquired it in 2004 from the Jim Henson Company for $75 million. It also acquired the Bear in the Big Blue House property from the Henson Company at the same time.
5. Pixar (2006): 100% ownership
The Pixar acquisition was the first major deal under Iger, who led the $7.4 billion deal to gain control of the highly respected animation studio. The move also gave Disney a new pool of creative and technical talent to tap for both Pixar movies and Disney's own animated content.
6. Marvel (2009): 100% ownership
Marvel is arguably Disney's most successful acquisition to date. The deal gave Disney substantial intellectual property that it has parlayed into dozens of movies for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many of which have been blockbusters. Disney paid $4 billion for the comic book empire. Marvel had filed for bankruptcy in 1996 as comic books started to collapse, and it had recently launched Marvel Studios before Disney bought it.
7. Lucasfilm (2012): 100% ownership
Lucasfilm is best known as the parent of Star Wars and related intellectual property. Disney acquired the business from George Lucas for $4.05 billion in 2012. As with Marvel, the company has leveraged those assets into several new movies and streaming TV series. Although the reviews have been mixed, the box office tally shows that the deal has been a successful one for Disney.
8. BAMTech (2015): 100% ownership
Disney acquired the streaming tech platform in stages since the company was owned in a joint venture between Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. Disney started acquiring it in 2015, but didn't own the entire platform until 2022. The technology has been crucial in the development of Disney's own streaming services, including Disney+.
9. Fox Entertainment Assets (2018): 100% ownership
Disney's biggest acquisition to date is its 2018 deal to acquire Fox's entertainment assets for $52.4 billion, or $71.3 billion, including the assumption of debt. The deal included several cable channels, such as FX and National Geographic, as well as the 20th Century Studio and other Fox-owned studios, such as Searchlight. It also gave Disney a large quantity of new content to leverage in its streaming services like The Simpsons and Avatar, which it intends to use to make a Star Wars-like string of sequels.
The deal gave Disney another chunk of Hulu. Since buying Fox, some have speculated that Disney overpaid for the deal since it's only recently started making money on streaming, and Disney stock has struggled since the move.
10. Hulu (2019): 100% ownership
The Hulu streaming service began as a joint venture between Disney, Comcast (CMCSA +0.57%), and Fox Corp. (FOX -1.67%), each owning a third. In 2016, Time Warner acquired 10% of the company, leaving Disney with 30%. In the Fox deal, Disney gained Fox's 30% share, and WarnerMedia, then owned by AT&T (T -0.74%), sold its stake back to Hulu, leaving Disney with 67%.
Disney agreed to buy Comcast's stake for roughly $9 billion in November 2023 and now has 100% ownership of the streaming service.
The bottom line
Disney has grown over its history from its namesake brand known for children's animation and theme parks to an entertainment colossus. It has an unmatched library of intellectual property and continues to generate profits for the company through its flywheel business model that includes video entertainment, consumer products like toys, and theme parks and other vacations. Those all cater to the same customers, creating a unique brand affinity.
Disney's acquisitions, such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox, have helped make its strategy a success, but it also hasn't made the company immune to the tech-driven disruption in the media industry.
The television ecosystem is shrinking, and to satisfy shareholders, Disney will have to find a replacement for that cash cow with its streaming services. It should get there eventually, but it's proven more challenging than many shareholders and even Iger himself have expected.
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