Disney Buys Marvel!!!!

The Walt Disney empire is to buy the superheroes stable Marvel Entertainment for $4bn (£2.5bn) in a star-studded Hollywood deal that unites family names such as Mickey Mouse with lucrative characters including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men.

Disney hopes to put Marvel's 5,000 characters to work on its television channels and in video games, theme parks and movies. The agreed takeover is for a mixture of cash and stock, with Disney shares accounting for roughly 40% of the buyout price.

The tie-up unites two companies with similar business models – they both take characters which capture the popular imagination and promote them vigorously around the world on every possible media platform and through third-party licensing deals.

While Disney has traditionally been known for its wholesome family creations ranging from the Little Mermaid to Lion King, Hannah Montana and Pocahontas, the purchase of Marvel adds an edgier, more violent element – it recently scored a box office success with Iron Man, a movie starring Robert Downey Jr as a billionaire inventor who creates a hi-tech suit of armour to battle evil.

Marvel's characters, who include superhero Captain America, tend to chime particularly well with teenage boys and young men, while Disney has been stronger in appealing to a female audience.

Disney's chief executive, Bob Iger, said Marvel had a "treasure trove" of intellectual property that "transcends gender, age, culture and geographical barriers".

"There are so many opportunities to mine both characters that are known and characters that are not widely known," Iger said.

The tie-up is one of the largest US corporate transactions of the summer and marks a remarkable turnaround for Marvel, originally a comic book company, which filed for bankruptcy in 1996 under heavy debts as it faced a slump in comic book sales.

The two companies hope to complete the deal by the end of the year. Marvel's chief executive, Ike Perlmutter, will be the largest personal winner, scooping $1.4bn in cash and Disney shares in return for his 37% stake in the business.

Perlmutter has been involved in running Marvel since helping to buy the business out of bankruptcy in 1998.

Marvel's chairman, Mort Handel, described Disney as a "perfect home" for his company's library of characters. "Both companies have their roots in great storytelling and innovative artistry," he said.

Marvel had sales of $676m last year but employed just 300 people. Disney, in contrast, had a turnover of $37.8bn and a payroll of 150,000 staff at businesses varying from its Hollywood film studios to ABC television, theme parks on three continents and a high-street chain of Disney merchandise stores.

"This helps give Disney more important exposure to the young male demographic that they have sort of lost some ground with in recent years," said David Joyce, a media analyst at stockbroker Miller Tabak.

He added: "When you look at the kind of TV shows on their cable networks, and the Disney consumer products line for the princess and fairies – the Hannah Montana kind of stuff – it shows that they have a lot of strength addressing the young female demographic."

In a research note, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet said: "Disney will also be able to monetise Marvel's brands across its entire ecosystem from TV to parks, movies, consumer products and video games."

Marvel's shares shot up by 26% to $48.78 during early trading on Wall Street. The buyout values Marvel at $50 per share.

lol that's what i said!

So Disney will ruin Marvel now...... Great......

Ugh... I foresee Mickey dressed as Spider Man soon

I read this earlier and wasn't sure if it was a big deal or not. lol Given the length of the post and the exclamations!!! I assume it is! :q

"Marvel Hearts" was a new idea BG came up with. lol

well i can forsee disney building Iron man ride and seeing the "Mickey Hulk" running around the place screaming "MICKKKEY SMASSSSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!" but other then the 1st shock of the article im kinda excited to see what goodie's disney will pull off. imagine new marvel movies backed by Disney i mean WTF the movies will be sic!

New rides at Disney WORLD you say?!

I really do hope so...... with this Move Disney trying to attract teen-adult males to enjoy Disney its not a stupid move on there part IMO

Unless they ruin it and somehow do the opposite

Great now the pixar films will change too.

lol Imagine a Disney/Pixar/Marvel Project...... Mind Blowing!!

Nothing to be worried about folks.

Odds are Marvel was working from a position of strength during the deals, seeing as they were pretty well off and had no reason to sell. I doubt Disney's going to mess with Marvel, it just gets Disney behind Marvel with some hefty change in certain people's pockets. Disney profits, Marvel profits, win-win deal. Those stockholders that bought the moment they got the news had the right idea.

I don't imagine this will influence the Marvel end too much. It will however, make for an excellent insurance policy for Marvel, who, a few years ago, pretty much bet the farm on its movie studios being successful and, with so many movies slated for release, could use an extra push behind it, should any of them fail (Thor, Captain America, Avengers ftl?). Marvel has already been essentially "Disnified" considering the youth-aimed products. I just hope that Marvel will have some new/more resources to work with and refrain from producing more crap like X-men Origins: Wolverine ; ;

As long as they treat marvel like pixar(let them do their own thing) and not force spider man to hang out with goofy and donald duck...it'll be all good.

You guys do realize Disney owns several television networks, movie studies and many other entertainment companies right? Just because Disney owns a company doesn't mean they're slapping Disney branding and characters all over it.

disney isnt soo bad... kingdom hearts had disney charcters and was still bad ***! 1 & 2...

Kingdom Hearts 4 = marvel world? or introduction to marvel charcters?
all isnt lost people...

the INCREDIBLES vs the Fantastic 4 >.>

Meh, just means that there might be a promotional spider man cardboard cutout for the next movie in the window of your local disney store.

Just as said above, disney owns lots of stuff, but it doesnt mean that all your super heroes will be wearing mickey ears and teaching you educational morals in song.

I remember when Pearl Harbor came out and the disney store had a huge poster up for it and I was like "wtf" its cause somewhere down the line disney owned something and had the rights to promote it. They make/distribute/promote alot of good stuff ignoring alot of the animated trash they've been putting out in recent years.

Disney is the very coalescence of evil. They are nothing more than a propaganda machine spreading their false message and furthering the creation of a culturally devoid world. On the rare occasion when they've created something brilliant (Pixar animation studios is generally of note, though not without the disney blemishes) it winds up simply fueling a hate machine who's wheels have been turning, since Nazi sympathizer Walt Disney created it. Their money lusting talons destroy everything good in the world. From Square Enix's creativity (Seriously KH = *** that ***in it's cockstuffing sellout ***) to simply creating abortions like G.I. Jane.

If you like disney, you automatically hate Kittens, there is no exceptions. It is on a subconscious level, you can't escape it. You are doomed to hate Kittens for eternity.

Well It has hit 1k post in linkshell Ni woot!

Incoming X-men world in Kingdom Hearts 3 rofl

i think this'll be awesome. Disney has such a big image, they could fully utilize marvel, in a good way, and it wouldn't hurt them one bit.

Not to mention...

Marvel already has ***like this out as it is:







what worse could disney do?

You can't quote yourself!! Your breaking the rules of internet!!!!

that would really piss me off lol. i was looking forward to 3 >.>