We all know Disney is a massive, loaded company. Just based on companies with Disney in the name, we can tell it's one of the biggest franchises in the world. But #66 in the world big? Obviously, we know they own all the vacation spots with their name on them: Disneyland in CA, Walt Disney World in FL, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong International Theme Park and the Disney Cruise Line.
And duh, they own Disney Studios, Disney Animation, the Disney Channel and all of the child stars it pimps into the music industry (cough, Miley, cough).
But that alone wouldn't put them over Goldman Sachs(#68), American Express (#90) or Morgan Stanley (#96). So what else is there? How did Disney go from the tiny company that barely scraped together the $5,000 to make "Steamboat Willie" in 1928 to the 2nd biggest media conglomerate in the world?
Aggressive expansion. Through a series of shrewd -- and expensive -- buyouts, the Disney umbrella now shelters:
Lucasfilm
That little mouse controls the future of the galaxy! Sure, I’m excited about the new movies and new games, but you know Disney is thinking about some bastardization crossover between Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Episode I The Phantom Menace grossed $1 BILLION worldwide alone and Disney bought the company for $4 billion.
The History Channel
Holy sh*t. Walt Disney was allegedly an anti-semite and a racist, and his company owns the History Channel? Thank God that the History Channel only airs things that are 100% factual all the time, right?
Lifetime Channels
Lifetime, Lifetime Women's Network, Lifetime Movie Network. I don’t know what to tell you. No idea what’s on Lifetime, but Disney owns it, and the souls of those who watch it.
Pixar Animation
The whole point of a capitalist system is to encourage competition to improve the product. But no, Disney just has to own every goddamn thing. Pixar, I still love you. Pixar had 2 movies gross $1,000,000,000: Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo. Plus, looking at the Pixar lineup is like looking at a list of the greatest animated movies of all time.
ABC
This is a mini-empire unto itself. ABC Family, ABC Radio, local stations in Chicago, Houston, LA, NYC, Philly, San Fran, and others. One of the pillars of American television entertainment. When Disney took over ABC in 1995 it was the 2nd biggest corporate takeover of all time.
ESPN
ESPN, ESPN2 ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN The MAG, ESPN Classic. ESPN owns the sporting world, and Disney owns ESPN. ESPN is worth $40 Billion, according to Forbes, and Disney bought it in '96 for less than 6 Billion. The NY Times just ran a series about how ESPN aggressively maintains its monopoly on sporting news and coverage, and while impressive, it's definitely intimidating.
"Pirates of the Caribbean"
Just a small reminder that the whole damn film franchise is based on a Disney theme park ride! They made one of the highest grossing film series of all time at $3.7 Billion so far with at least one more on the way, "Dead Men Tell No Tales" 2016. It takes money to make money.
Photobucket and GoPro
These sites are just some of the companies founded on investments from Disney’s venture capital division. Others are GameSalad, mobile game designer and RazorGator, an alternative to Stubhub.
Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, Marvel Productions. "The Avengers" grossed $1.5 Billion worldwide, and Marvel has a huge lineup of films coming out soon. I quit. It’s like one company owns all of my favorite childhood memories. Props to them I guess, but I wish I didn’t feel so owned by the stupid mouse’s company.
