No other studio has the branding power that the Walt Disney Company has. Today, the company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction. The transaction value is $50 per Marvel share, or approximately $4 billion. With the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 characters. The acquisition comes three years after president and CEO Robert Iger got Pixar for $7.4 billion.
To the New York Times, Iger had this to say: “This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories. We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation.”
Currently, Paramount will maintain the worldwide distribution rights for five Marvel projects already in development (including Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers). Sony Pictures will continue making Spider-Man sequels and Fox will continue the X-Men franchise. Disney would like to start distributing Marvel movies down the line, saying “when the time comes we’ll take a closer look at it.” John Lasseter met last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and apparently was stoked about the idea. They say there’s definitely an opportunity there.
Surprisingly, the key reason for Disney wanting to acquire Marvel was to attract males. Considering the company has attracted girls in droves with princesses, fairies and Hannah Montana, this is understandable.
This is truly a groundbreaking deal. It may be years before we start seeing Marvel properties with the Walt Disney Pictures logo, but the thought of a Marvel/Pixar mash-up sounds intriguing. Disney is a strong brand, as familiar as Coca-Cola or McDonald’s. Now if the Walt Disney Company were to ink a distribution partnership with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, well then the entity would be that much closer to World Domination!
You can read more about the deal at the New York Times.
Hey guys, meet your new home!
Source: New York Times
