List of acquisitions by Disney

The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 and since 1993 has acquired many properties to increase its size in the media industry. The table shows the most substantial and important acquisitions that Disney has made over the years.

Current acquisitions
Acquired company Year of acquisition Price of acquisition Details of the acquisition
Disneyland, Inc. 1957-present $562,500[1] Walt Disney Productions (34.48%) buys out Western Publishing (13.8%) and Walt Disney (16.55%) making the company majority owner (64.83%)[2]
1960-present nearly $7.5 million purchased out the final other shareholder, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres[3]
WED Enterprises
park designing and engineering division		 1965-present the purchase also included the company name, which the unit used until 1986 when renamed to their nickname Walt Disney Imagineering
Retlaw Enterprises
parks transportation division		 1982-present $42.6 million including the Walt Disney name rights[4]
Wrather Corporation 1987-present 50% share;[5] includes the Disneyland Hotel, Queen Mary and Spruce Goose
1988-present buys the other half from Industrial Equity (Pacific) Ltd.[6]
Capital Cities/ABC Inc.[7] 1996-present $19 billion Included the ABC network, a majority stake in ESPN, a joint-stake in Lifetime Entertainment Services, a minority stake in A&E Television Networks and a limited partnership stake in DIC Entertainment. Now known as Walt Disney Television
Starwave[8] 1998-present $400 million[9] Disney acquired these companies to create their own internet search engine, Go.com.
Infoseek[10] 1999-present $1.77 billion[11]
Fox Family Worldwide 2001-present $2.9 billion This purchase included Saban Entertainment (part owner of the Fox Kids block) and set the framework for the eventual launch of Jetix in 2004. In 2010, a new Saban company was formed, with Disney keeping most of the catalog of its predecessor.
The Muppets[12] 2004-present $75 million Acquired from The Jim Henson Company. The acquired assets were placed in a newly-created division known as The Muppets Studio.
Pixar[13] 2006-present $7.4 billion In 1995, Pixar and Disney signed a distribution that would last for 5 films, In 2004, the deal was about to end, Disney launched Circle 7 Animation to create sequels to Pixar’s films, In 2006, Disney bought them to alleviate their broken relationship and distribution deal.
Marvel[14] 2009-present $4 billion Distribution rights by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures started in 2012 after buying out Paramount Pictures
Lucasfilm[15] 2012-present $4 billion Dating back to the 1980s, Disney had the exclusive theme park rights for Lucasfilm’s franchises, Decades later, Disney decided to purchase them.
Maker Studios[16] 2014-present $450 million Renamed Disney Digital Network in 2017, and was moved under the management of Disney Interactive.
BAMTech 2017-present $2.58 billion> Bought by Disney (75%), to help lay out the framework for their upcoming streaming platforms.
21st Century Fox[17] 2019-present $71.3 billion In preparation for the launch of Disney+, Disney decided to bulk up its film and television library, by purchasing 21st Century Fox (particularly, the film and television catalog from 20th Century Fox). Prior to the purchase, Fox Corporation was formed and took the broadcast network, Fox Television Stations (including Chris-Craft Industries and New World Pictures' broadcast operations), Fox News and Fox Sports. In 2020, Disney drop the ''Fox'' brand from the studios brands to avoid brand confusion with Fox Corporation.

Former acquisitions
Acquired company Year of acquisition Price of acquisition Details of acquisition
Miramax Films[18] 1993-2010 $60 million Including Dimension Films. In 2005, The Weinstein brothers purchased the rights to Dimension Films from Disney.[19] On December 3, 2010, Disney sold Miramax for US$663 million to Filmyard Holdings.[20]
DIC Entertainment 1996-2000 Same as Capital Cities/ABC purchase Consisted of two limited partnerships with Andy Heyward (DIC Entertainment, L.P. and DIC Productions, L.P.) and was included as part of Capital Cities/ABC purchase. DIC already had a semi-exclusive North American Home Video contract with Buena Vista Home Video that had been in effect a year before the purchase. With a backing from Bain Capital and Chase Capital Partners, Andy Heyward re-purchased the company back from Disney on November 18, 2000.[21][22] The company's assets and a majority of their shows are now owned by WildBrain.

See also

References
  1. "Disneyland Tabs $2.29 Per Capita; See Small Net First Yr". Billboard. January 28, 1956. p. 69. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  2. "Disneyland Draws 4,200,000; Parent Firm Buys More Stock". Billboard. January 13, 1958. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  3. Thomas, Bob (1994). Walt Disney - An American Original. p. 286.
  4. Peltz, James F. (October 2, 1990). "The Wonderful World of Disney's Other Firm : Entertainment: Walt Disney created a separate company for his family. Retlaw Enterprises Inc. is now worth hundreds of millions". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  5. Berg, Eric N. (September 29, 1987). "Company News; Wrather Accepts $21-a-Share Offer". New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  6. "COMPANY NEWS; Disney Buys Stake". New York Times. March 30, 1988. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  7. Fabrikant, Geraldine (August 1, 1995). "The Media Business: The Merger; Walt Disney to Acquire Abc in $19 Billion Deal to Build a Giant for Entertainment" – via The New York Times.
  8. Pelline, Jeff. "Disney to buy Starwave". CNET.
  9. Tomczak, Mitchell (March 14, 2020). "12 Walt Disney Company Acquisitions Worth over $114 Billion" – via Mitten To Magic.
  10. "Disney absorbs Infoseek - Jul. 12, 1999". money.cnn.com.
  11. Tomczak, Mitchell (March 14, 2020). "12 Walt Disney Company Acquisitions Worth over $114 Billion" – via Mitten To Magic.
  12. "Disney buys Muppets from Hensons | IOL Business Report". iol.co.za.
  13. "Disney buys Pixar - Jan. 25, 2006". money.cnn.com.
  14. "Disney buys Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion - Aug. 31, 2009". money.cnn.com.
  15. "Disney buys firm behind Star Wars". bbc.com. October 31, 2012.
  16. Solsman, Joan E. "Disney buys YouTube network Maker Studios for $500M". CNET.
  17. "Disney Officially Owns 21st Century Fox". NPR.org.
  18. Mason, Ian Garrick (October 11, 2004). "When Harvey met Mickey". New Statesman. UK. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
  19. Mohr, Ian (September 10, 2006). "The Weinstein Co. / Dimension Films". Variety. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  20. Ryan Nakashima (December 5, 2010). "Disney completes $663M sale of Miramax". Associated Press via Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  21. Carl DiOrio (2000-09-18). "Bain backing buyout of DiC". Variety. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  22. Charles Lyons (2000-11-19). "DIC plays new toon". Variety. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
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