Back in August we learned the news that The Walt Disney Company was interested in acquiring the entire catalog of Marvel Comics characters and, very surprisingly, Marvel was interested in selling. Today we learn that the deal, priced in the $4 billion dollar range, has been completed … Disney now owns the entire Marvel Comics company and catalog Marvel characters:
Walt Disney Co. completed its $4.24-billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. on Thursday, bringing Spider-Man, Iron Man and 5,000 other characters under the same roof as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Marvel shareholders approved the acquisition Thursday morning as expected. Marvel Chief Executive Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, who owned 37% of Marvel stock, supported it. He will oversee the Marvel business and report to Disney CEO Robert Iger. Iger said the deal can help Disney grow revenue and profit, saying in a statement, “The creative and business potential of this combination is substantial.” Marvel shareholders received $30 per share in cash, plus 0.7452 of a Disney share for every Marvel share they owned. Disney shares closed Thursday at $32.25. That valued Marvel shares at $54.03 each, and put the purchase price at $4.24 billion. The deal is Disney’s largest since it bought Pixar Animation Studios Inc., the maker of “Up” and “Cars,” for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006. Separately, Pow Entertainment Inc., a company led by Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee, said it expanded a three-year relationship with Disney by giving Disney greater rights to its creative output and exclusive consulting services. Disney, based in Burbank, will take a 10% stake in Pow for $2.5 million, it said. Walt Disney Studios’ president of worldwide distribution, Bob Chapek, said it made sense to extend the relationship with the company partly because of Lee’s “knowledge and familiarity of the Marvel Universe.”
And that’s all she wrote … the Mouse now owns Spider-Man and Friends. I’m still not really pleased by this sale at all … the thought of such a major comic book company coming under the ownership of a company like Disney worries me to no end. I’m comforted by the fact that Disney‘s purchase of Pixar Animation has been a good union, with Pixar keeping full creative control. My hope is that Marvel will continue to have creative control as well … but if push ever comes to shove and Disney wants something a certain way, then as owners they will get their way. I suppose, at the end of the day, everyone has their selling price … everyone. Disney just happens to have the funds to pay Marvel their selling price. I just hope this deal with the Mouse doesn’t end up to be more like a deal with the Devil for Marvel.
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I wasn’t happy about this when the news first broke, and I’m still not happy about it :( I’ll keep my fingers crossed, though!
im kind of intrested to see how this plays out..i mean this could be really good…or really bad. but i have a feeling this will play out just like it did with pixar. and everything will be fine
That pic and caption of Mickey is effing brilliant, Trent!! hahahaa!
I am still in shock…..
I think the only reason why Pixar have creative control is A) It’s Pixar and B) They make masterpieces. Now don’t get me wrong, Disney have created some of the most iconic and brilliant animated films of our time. But no one can do it like Pixar in the CGI field.
Disney know they won’t get the critical acclaim and box office return without Pixar when it comes to Pixar films.
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I think movies such as the Spiderman franchise and Iron Man will stay in the hands that they are in. But i would like to see Disney give other franchises into other hands. I don’t believe Disney will ride off the success of having Marvel by making them all watered-down PG rated films. But i do believe we will see a tad more animated super hero films or TV shows again.
[...] on the topic of superheroes Mickey Mouse now owns Marvel Comics. Time will tell if this is a good purchase, or will we start seeing naked pictures of our favourite [...]
I’m actually quite excited about how things will pan out after this.
so will universal studios keep the marvel superheros area of their islands of adventure park?