List of acquisitions by Disney

The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 and since 1996 has acquired many properties to increase its size in the media industry. The table shows the most substantial and important acquisitions that Disney has made over the years.

Acquisitions

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Acquired company 44 Date Country Price (US$) Price Adjusted for Inflation (US$) Parent/Merged With References
1 Disneyland, Inc. 1957 (64% controlling stake)   USA 562,500 6,000,000 Disney Parks, Experiences and Products [1]
1960 (remaining shares)   USA 7,500,000 77,000,000 [2][3]
2 WED Enterprises (park designing and engineering division) 1965   USA
3 Retlaw Enterprises (parks transportation division) 1982   USA 42,600,000 134,000,000 [4]
4 Wrather Corporation 1987 (50% share)   USA [5]
1988 (remaining 50%)   USA [6]
5 Miramax Films 1993   USA 60,000,000 The Walt Disney Studios
6 Capital Cities/ABC Inc. February 9, 1996   USA 19,000,000,000 36,912,000,000 Disney General Entertainment Content [7]
7 Toysmart August 1996   USA Disney Interactive [8]
8 Starwave April 30, 1998   USA 400,000,000 748,000,000 Go.com [9]
9 Infoseek July 12, 1999   USA 1,770,000,000 3,237,000,000 [10][11]
10 Fox Family Worldwide
Saban Entertainment
October 24, 2001   USA 2,900,000,000 4,990,000,000 ABC Family Worldwide
Buena Vista Studios Entertainment
[12]
11 The Baby Einstein Company November 6 2001   USA The Walt Disney Company
12 The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House properties (The Jim Henson Company) February 17, 2004   USA 75,000,000 121,000,000 The Muppets Studio [13]
13 Avalanche Software April 19, 2005   USA Disney Interactive Studios [14]
14 Living Mobile October 19, 2005   Germany Walt Disney Internet Group [15]
15 Pixar May 5, 2006   USA 7,400,000,000 11,184,000,000 Walt Disney Studios [16]
16 Climax Racing September 2006   UK Disney Interactive Studios [17]
17 Junction Point Studios February 8, 2007   USA [18]
18 New Horizon Interactive August 2007   Canada 350,000,000 497,000,000 [19]
19 GameStar February 2009   China [20]
20 Kerpoof February 2009   USA Disney.com
21 Wideload Games September 8, 2009   USA Disney Interactive Studios [21]
22 Marvel Entertainment December 31, 2009   USA 4,400,000,000 6,249,000,000 The Walt Disney Company [22]
23 Tapulous July 1, 2010   USA Disney Mobile [23]
24 Playdom August 27, 2010   USA 563,000,000 747,000,000 Disney Interactive [24]
25 UTV Software Communications January 31, 2012   India 450,000,000 597,000,000 The Walt Disney Company India [25]
26 StudioEX December 10, 2012   South Korea Disney Interactive [26]
27 Lucasfilm December 21, 2012   USA 4,050,000,000 5,375,000,000 Walt Disney Studios [27][28]
28 Maker Studios March 24, 2014   USA 500,000,000 644,000,000 Disney Digital Network [29]
29 BAMTech 2016   USA 2,930,000,000 3,720,000,000 Disney Streaming [30][31][32][33]
30 Euro Disney SCA June 19, 2017   France 760,000,000 945,000,000 Disney Parks, Experiences and Products [34][35]
31 21st Century Fox March 20, 2019   USA 71,300,000,000 84,970,000,000 The Walt Disney Company [36][37]
32 Hulu (remaining 43% of shares) April 16, 2019 (WarnerMedia's 10% stake)   USA 1,430,000,000 1,704,000,000 Disney Streaming [38]
December 1, 2023 (Comcast's 33% stake)   USA 8,610,000,000 8,610,000,000 [39]
33 Epic Games February 7, 2024 (9% equity stake)   USA 1,500,000,000 The Walt Disney Company [40][41]

Divestments

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Acquirer Target company Date of sale Price of sale References
Young Broadcasting KCAL-TV May 14, 1996 385,000,000 [42]
Rural Press Farm Progress July 1, 1997 [43]
Advance Publications Fairchild Publications August 20, 1999 650,000,000 [44]
Andy Heyward
Bain Capital
Chase Capital Partners
DIC Entertainment November 25, 2000 [45][46]
The Weinstein Company Dimension Films 2005 [47]
Citadel Broadcasting ABC Radio Networks June 12, 2007 [48]
Saban Brands Power Rangers and entertainment assets May 12, 2010 43,000,000 [49]
Filmyard Holdings Miramax Films December 3, 2010 663,000,000 [50][51]
Kids II, Inc. The Baby Einstein Company October 14, 2013 [52]
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Avalanche Software January 24, 2017 [53]
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Entertainment Studios
Fox Sports Networks August 22, 2019 10,600,000,000 [54]
Scopely FoxNext Games January 22, 2020 [55]
Banijay Endemol Shine Group 3 July 2020 2,200,000,000 [56]
Gimbal, Inc. TrueX September 28, 2020 [57]
ViacomCBS TeleColombia November 23, 2021 [58][59]
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa KRDC June 13, 2023 5,000,000 [60]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Disneyland Tabs $2.29 Per Capita; See Small Net First Yr". Billboard. January 28, 1956. p. 69. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  2. ^ "Disneyland Draws 4,200,000; Parent Firm Buys More Stock". Billboard. January 13, 1958. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  3. ^ Thomas, Bob (1994). Walt Disney - An American Original. p. 286.
  4. ^ Peltz, James F. (October 2, 1990). "The Wonderful World of Disney's Other Firm : Entertainment: Walt Disney created a separate company for his family. Retlaw Enterprises Inc. is now worth hundreds of millions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  5. ^ Berg, Eric N. (September 29, 1987). "Company News; Wrather Accepts $21-a-Share Offer". New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  6. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; Disney Buys Stake". New York Times. March 30, 1988. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  7. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (August 1, 1995). "The Media Business: The Merger; Walt Disney to Acquire Abc in $19 Billion Deal to Build a Giant for Entertainment". The New York Times.
  8. ^ Gelsi, Steve. (August 25, 1999). Disney plays with Toysmart.com. Marketwatch.com.
  9. ^ Pelline, Jeff. "Disney to buy Starwave". CNET.
  10. ^ Tomczak, Mitchell (March 14, 2020). "12 Walt Disney Company Acquisitions Worth over $114 Billion". Mitten To Magic.
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  28. ^ Schou, Solvej (December 21, 2012). "Mickey + 'Star Wars' = Disney completes Lucasfilm acquisition". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
  29. ^ Solsman, Joan E. "Disney buys YouTube network Maker Studios for $500M". CNET.
  30. ^ "The Walt Disney Company Acquires Minority Stake in BAMTech". The Walt Disney Company. August 9, 2016.
  31. ^ "The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Majority Ownership of BAMTech". The Walt Disney Company. August 8, 2017.
  32. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (12 August 2021). "Disney Buys NHL's 10% Stake In BAMTech For $350 Million; MLB's 15% On The Table In 2022". Deadline.
  33. ^ "SEC-Show".
  34. ^ "The Walt Disney Company Takes Full Ownership of Disneyland Paris in Buyout". June 13, 2017.
  35. ^ "Disneyland Paris now fully under Walt Disney Company control". www.baynews9.com.
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  56. ^ "Sophie Turner Laing To Leave Endemol Shine Group As Banijay Group Completes $2.2BN Takeover". Deadline Hollywood. July 3, 2020.
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