The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company
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Type	Public (NYSE: DIS)
Founded	Burbank, California (1923)
Location	Burbank, California
Key people	George J. Mitchell, Chairman Michael D. Eisner, CEO Robert A. Iger, President/COO
Industry	Broadcasting, Animation, Motion pictures, & Recreational Activities
Products	American Broadcasting Company, Buena Vista Distribution, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, Walt Disney Studios, Theme parks
Revenue	Missing image Green_up.png image:green up.png $30.8 billion USD (2004)
Website	www.disney.com

The Walt Disney Company (also known as "Disney") (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Founded on October 16, 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy Oliver Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, it is today the number two media company in the United States. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Burbank, California. Disney had revenues of $30.8 billion in 2004, and it is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. For much of its history, the company was known as Walt Disney Productions, Ltd., until February 6, 1986, when it was rechristened with its current name. Disney Enterprises, Inc., commonly seen in company legal notices, is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

Overview

Disney's main operating units are Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, Media Networks, and Consumer Products.

Studio Entertainment

Its Studio Entertainment unit, also known as The Walt Disney Studios, is headed by Chairman Dick Cook. It includes the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, a collection of movie studios including Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, and Hollywood Pictures. The Miramax Films and Dimension Films studios are also a part of the unit, but operate autonomously in New York. Disney's Buena Vista Music Group, which includes Walt Disney Records, Mammoth Records, Lyric Street Records, and Hollywood Records, also falls under the umbrella of The Walt Disney Studios. The unit also includes Buena Vista Theatrical Productions and Disney's distribution companies: Buena Vista International, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment International.

One of the company's most successful subsidiaries is its animation studio, Walt Disney Feature Animation, responsible for producing a number of successful and influential traditionally animated features. After witnessing the box office failures of some of its recent animated films and the stellar successes of computer-animated films from Pixar, Disney has decided to shift its production from "traditional" hand-drawn animated films (which in recent years have incorporated much work done on computer) entirely to computer-animated films. The last traditionally-animated film produced by Disney was Home on the Range. Its first computer-animated film will be Chicken Little. Disney has fallen under much criticism for this change in direction, especially as fans see the strength of a movie as its plot and its characters and not as the technology used to make it.

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Disney stamps, issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2004

Disney is becoming a direct competitor to Pixar in a market dominated by the latter. Disney has failed to renew its contract with Pixar to release Pixar's films under the Disney name, an arrangement which had been extremely profitable to Disney and whose termination means that Pixar is now free to pair up with a competing studio.

Walt Disney Studios , the company's main film and television production facility as well as corporate headquarters, in Burbank, California, is the only major Hollywood film studio that has never offered tours to the public. A partial tour of the Orlando, Florida feature animation satellite studio was available to attendees of Disney-MGM Studios until 2003.

Parks and Resorts

Main article: Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

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Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom

Disney operates eight theme parks at the Disneyland Resort, the Walt Disney World Resort, and the Disneyland Resort Paris. A ninth is under construction at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, which is set to open in 2005. Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan is operated and owned by the Oriental Land Company with licenses from Disney.

The company also owns through Anaheim Sports, Inc. the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey club, which it recently agreed to sell to Broadcom executive Henry Samueli, and owned the Anaheim Angels baseball team, which was later sold to advertising magnate Arturo Moreno. The Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, and the chain of ESPN Zone sports-themed restaurants also operate as a part of the Parks & Resorts unit.

Media Networks

Its Media Networks unit is centered around the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network, which it acquired through a merger with Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. Disney also owns a group of cable networks including The Disney Channel, ABC Family, Toon Disney, the ESPN group and SOAPnet. Disney also holds substantial interest in Lifetime (50%), A&E (37.5%), and E! (40%).

Through ABC, Disney also owns local 10 television stations, 26 local radio stations, and ESPN Radio, Radio Disney, and ABC Radio News, which carries such radio personalities as Sean Hannity and Paul Harvey. Buena Vista Television, which also is a part of the Media Networks unit, produces such syndicated television programs as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Ebert & Roeper.

Disney also operates its Hyperion publishing company and Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIC) through Media Networks. Hyperion has recently published books by comedian-author Steve Martin and bestselling author Mitch Albom. WDIC includes the Go.com web portal, based on the old Infoseek search engine which it purchased in 1998, and leading websites such as Disney.com, ESPN.com, and ABCNews.com.

Consumer Products

Its Consumer Products unit includes Disney's merchandising and licensing business and its Disney Publishing Worldwide group, whose imprints include Disney Editions, Hyperion Books for Children, Disney Press. It also published the Disney Adventures children's magazine.

The unit once included the Disney Store chain of shopping mall locations, which it sold in 2004. It does now include Jim Henson's Muppets characters, which it purchased from The Jim Henson Company in 2004.

History

1923-1936

1923: The Disney Bros. Studio, founded in October 16 by brothers Walt and Roy Disney and animator Ub Iwerks, produces the Alice in Cartoonland series.
1925: At Walt Disney's insistence, the company is renamed Walt Disney Studios.
1927: The Alice series ends; Disney picks up the contract to animate Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
1928: Walt loses of the Oswald series; first Mickey Mouse cartoon: Plane Crazy

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Walt Disney signing a Mickey Mouse drawing

1929: First Silly Symphony: The Skeleton Dance. On December 16 the original partnership formed in 1923 is replaced by Walt Disney Productions, Ltd. Three other companies, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company, are also formed.
1930: First appearance of Pluto
1932: First three-strip Technicolor short released: Flowers and Trees; first appearance of Goofy
1934: First appearance of Donald Duck

1937-1954

1937: Studio produces its first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1938: On September 29, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company are merged into Walt Disney Productions.
1940: Studio moves to the Burbank, California buildings where it is located to this day
1941: A bitter animators' strike occurs; as the USA enters World War II, the studio begins making morale-boosting propaganda films for the government
1944: The company is short on cash; a theatrical re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs generates much-needed revenue and begins a reissue pattern for the animated feature films (See: List of Disney film reissues by year)
1945: The studio hires its first-ever live actor for a film, James Baskett, to star as Uncle Remus in Song of the South
1949: The studio begins production on its first all-live action feature, Treasure Island; the popular True-Life Adventures series begins
1952: Walt Disney forms WED Enterprises on December 16 to design his theme park.
1953: Walt Disney forms Retlaw Enterprises on April 6 to control the rights to his name. It will later own and operate several attractions inside Disneyland, including the Monorail and the Disneyland Railroad.
1954: The studio founds Buena Vista Distribution to distribute its feature films; beginning of the Disneyland TV program

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Roy O. Disney

1955-1983

1955: Opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Walt Disney Productions owns 34.5 percent of Disneyland, Inc. It increases its stake in 1957 to 65.5 percent, then purchases the remaining shares from ABC in 1960.
1961: The studio licenses the film rights to Winnie-the-Pooh, whose characters continue to be highly profitable to this day; international distribution arm Buena Vista International is established.
1964: The company starts buying land near Orlando, Florida for Walt Disney World (then known as Disney World or The Florida Project)
1965: The regular production of short subjects ceases, as theatres no longer have any demand for them. Walt Disney Productions acquires WED Enterprises.
1966: Walt Disney dies. His brother Roy takes over.
1967: Construction begins on Walt Disney World; the underlying governmental structure (see Reedy Creek Improvement District) is signed into law.
1971: Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida; Roy Oliver Disney dies; Donn Tatum becomes chairman and Card Walker becomes president.
1977: Roy Edward Disney, son of Roy and nephew of Walt, resigns from the company citing a decline in overall product quality and issues with management.
1978: The studio licenses several minor titles to MCA Discovision for laserdisc release; only TV compilations of cartoons ever see the light of day through this deal.
1979: Don Bluth and a number of his allies leave the animation division; the studio releases its first PG-rated film, The Black Hole
1980: Tom Wilhite becomes head of the film division with the intent of modernizing studio product; a home video division is created
1981: Plans for a cable network are announced.
1982: EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World; Walt Disney's son-in-law Ron W. Miller succeeds Card Walker as CEO
1983: As the anthology series is canceled, The Disney Channel begins operation on US cable systems; Tom Wilhite resigns his post; Tokyo Disneyland opens in Japan

1984-present

1984: Touchstone Pictures is created; after the studio narrowly escapes a buyout attempt by Saul Steinberg, Roy Edward Disney and his business partner, Stanley Gold, remove Ron W. Miller as CEO and president, replacing him with Michael Eisner and Frank Wells.

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Michael Eisner

1985: The studio begins making cartoons for television; The home video release of Pinocchio is a best-seller.
1986: The studio's first R-rated release comes from Touchstone Pictures; the anthology series is revived; the company's name is changed from Walt Disney Productions to The Walt Disney Company.
1989: Disney offers a deal to buy Jim Henson's Muppets and have the famed puppeteer work with Disney resources; the Disney-MGM Studios open at Walt Disney World.
1990: Jim Henson's death sours the deal to buy his holdings; the anthology series canceled for second time.
1992: The controversial Euro Disney opens outside Paris, France.
1993: Disney acquires independent film distributor Miramax Films; Winnie the Pooh merchandise outsells Mickey Mouse merchandise for the first time; the policy of periodic theatrical re-issues ends with this year's re-issue of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but is augmented for video.
1994: Frank Wells is killed in a helicopter crash; Jeffrey Katzenberg resigns to co-found his own studio, DreamWorks SKG.
1994: Plans for Disney's America, a historical theme park in Haymarket, Virginia, are abruptly dropped. No explanation is given, and Disney announces a search for an alternate location.
1995: In October, the company hires Hollywood super agent, Michael Ovitz, to be president.
1996: The company takes on the Disney Enterprises name for non-Walt Disney branded ventures and acquires the Capital Cities/ABC group, renaming it ABC, Inc. ;in December, Michael Ovitz, president of the company, leaves "by mutual consent." To celebrate the pairing, ABC's first Super Soap Weekend is held at Walt Disney World.
1997: The anthology series is revived again; the home video division releases its first DVDs.
1998: Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World.
2000: Robert Iger becomes president and COO.
2001: Disney-owned TV channels are pulled from Time Warner Cable briefly during a dispute over carriage fees; Disney's California Adventure opens to the public; Disney begins releasing Walt Disney Treasures DVD box sets for the collector's market.
2003: Roy E. Disney again resigns as head of animation and from the board of directors, citing similar reasons to those that drove him off 26 years earlier; fellow director Stanley Gold resigns with him; they establish "Save Disney"[1] to apply public pressure to oust Michael Eisner.
2003: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl becomes the first film released under the Disney label with a PG-13 rating.
2004: Comcast make a hostile bid for the company, CEO Michael Eisner is replaced by George J. Mitchell as chairman of the board as a 43% vote of no confidence, The Muppets become Disney property and Disney turn down distributing Fahrenheit 9/11 which ends up making $100 million.
2005:
The Walt Disney Company officially begins the Happiest Homecoming on Earth on May 5 at Disneyland with a live video conference with the Magic Kingdom and video greetings from Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and the construction site of Hong Kong Disneyland.
- Disneyland celebrates its 50th birthday on July 17.
- Robert A. Iger, currently president of the company, will replace Michael Eisner as CEO on October 1.