riverplate
31 Aug 2009, 03:15 PM
Disney to Pay $4 Billion for Comic Giant Marvel (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/media/01disney.html?hp) - N.Y. Times
LOS ANGELES — In a deal that redraws Hollywood’s architecture, the Walt Disney Company said on Monday that it would acquire Spider-Man and his Marvel Entertainment cohort for $4 billion.
Disney will pay about 60% cash and 40% stock to acquire Marvel, the comic book giant whose stable of 5,000 characters includes some of the world’s best-known superheroes: Iron Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Captain America and Thor. Marvel has aggressively exploited its most popular characters through motion pictures, video games and consumer products. But Disney sees an opportunity to plug Marvel into its vaunted marketing and distribution system.
Almost immediately, for instance, Marvel characters will pop up at Disney’s theme parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Orlando, Fla. Disney’s cable television channels will showcase Marvel, while consumer products could be an enormous area of growth, particularly overseas where the comics company has struggled to make inroads.
LOS ANGELES — In a deal that redraws Hollywood’s architecture, the Walt Disney Company said on Monday that it would acquire Spider-Man and his Marvel Entertainment cohort for $4 billion.
Disney will pay about 60% cash and 40% stock to acquire Marvel, the comic book giant whose stable of 5,000 characters includes some of the world’s best-known superheroes: Iron Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Captain America and Thor. Marvel has aggressively exploited its most popular characters through motion pictures, video games and consumer products. But Disney sees an opportunity to plug Marvel into its vaunted marketing and distribution system.
Almost immediately, for instance, Marvel characters will pop up at Disney’s theme parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Orlando, Fla. Disney’s cable television channels will showcase Marvel, while consumer products could be an enormous area of growth, particularly overseas where the comics company has struggled to make inroads.