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The Walt Disney Company
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Public ( NYSE : DIS )
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Burbank, California , USA (1911)
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Walt and Roy Disney
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Orlando, Florida
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USA
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John E Pepper, Jr , Chairman<br /> Robert Iger , President/CEO<br /> Roy E Disney , Director Emeritus
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133,000 (2006)
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Media and Entertainment
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/United_States_dollar" class="copylinks">USD (2006)
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$6491 billion USD (2006)<br />(159% Operating Margin )
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$3374 billion USD (2006)<br />(104% Net Margin )
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ABC , ABC Family , ABC Kids , Walt Disney Studios Distribution , Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group , Disney Channel , Disney Channel Original , ESPN , ESPN2 , Jetix , Walt Disney Studios , Walt Disney Parks And Resorts , Walt Disney Television , Walt Disney Television Animation , Walt Disney Records , Walt Disney Pictures , Playhouse Disney , Disney Consumer Products , Pixar , Soapnet , Disney Interactive Studios , Disney Store Toon Disney
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() is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Founded on October 16 , 1923 by brothers, Walt and Roy Disney as a small animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner of eleven Theme Parks and several television networks, including the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
Disney's corporate headquarters and primary production facilities is located in California at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank) .
The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average . It had revenues of $34.3 Billion in 2006.
Disney's original and, until 1955, only business, was motion picture production company. Disney Studio Entertainment, also known as the Walt Disney Studios, includes Disney's movie and animation studios that make 3D films, record labels, and Broadway-style stage shows.
Since 2002, it has been headed by chairman Dick Cook .
- ''', Touchstone Pictures , Hollywood Pictures , and Miramax labels
- and ''' Pixar Animation Studios''': Disney's animation studios, which operate independently of each other
- : distributes and markets company's motion pictures in the United States
- : distributes company's motion pictures internationally
- : distributes company's motion pictures to rental and retail markets
- : releases original music and movie soundtracks under four labels
- : produces Broadway-style shows
- : produces Disney on Ice
Its Media Networks unit is centered around the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network, which it acquired through a merger with Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. Properties include:
Disney also owns a group of cable networks including: Disney Channel , ABC Family , Toon Disney , the ESPN group, and SOAPnet . Disney also holds substantial interest in Lifetime (50%), A&E (37.5%), E! (40%, recently sold to Comcast ), and Jetix Europe N.V. (74%). Disney also owns 25% of the GMTV company that operates the Breakfast Programmes on ITV , in the UK and 50% of Super RTL in Germany.
Through ABC, Disney also owns 30 local television stations, 2 local radio stations, and ESPN Radio , and Radio Disney . Although the ABC Radio Network was sold with other properties to Citadel Broadcasting , (which carries such radio personalities as Sean Hannity and Paul Harvey and distributes news bulletins by ABC News ), Disney shareholders now own 57% of Citadel. Disney-ABC Domestic Television , which also is a part of the Media Networks unit, produces such Syndicated Television Programs as '' Who Wants To Be A Millionaire '', '' Live With Regis And Kelly '', and '' Ebert & Roeper ''.
Disney also operates its own publishing company, Hyperion , and Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) through Media Networks. Hyperion has recently published books by comedian-author Steve Martin and bestselling author Mitch Albom . WDIG includes the Go.com web portal, Infoseek search engine which it purchased in 1998 , and leading websites such as Disney .com, ESPN .com, ABC News.com and Movie s.com. In March 2007, it was reported that Disney is launching a new Web site, Disney Family http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/3/13/75712.shtml, which is a one-stop site for parents, especially mothers. Disney to Launch Web Site Aimed at Moms
- 1923: Walt signed a contract with M.J. Winkler to produce a series of '' Alice Comedies '' - October 16 - the date used as the start of the Disney company. Originally know as the ''Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio'', with brothers Walt and Roy Disney , as equal partners.
- 1924: First Alice Comedy "Alice's Day at Sea" released.
- 1926: At Roy's suggestion, the company changed its name to the Walt Disney Studio shortly after moving into the new studio on Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district.
- 1927: The ''Alice'' series ends; first '' Oswald The Lucky Rabbit '' cartoon.
- 1928: Walt loses the ''Oswald'' series contract; first Mickey Mouse cartoon '' Steamboat Willie '' released at the Colony Theatre in New York, the first cartoon with sound on November 18.
- 1929: First ''Silly Symphony'': '' The Skeleton Dance ''. On December 16 , the original partnership formed in 1923 is replaced by Walt Disney Productions, Ltd. Three other companies, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company, are also formed.
- 1930: First appearance of Pluto .
- 1932: First three-strip ''; first appearance of Goofy .
- 1934: First appearance of Donald Duck .
- 1937: Studio produces its first full-length feature film, '' Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs ''. The film is also the first American animated feature film in history, and is the highest-grossing film of all time until 1939's '' Gone With The Wind ''.
- 1938: On September 29 , Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company are merged into Walt Disney Productions.
- 1940: Studio moves to the Burbank, California buildings where it is located to this day. Release of animated features '' Pinocchio '', the first animated film to win both Best Original Score and Best Song Academy Awards , and '' Fantasia '', the world's first film to be recorded in Stereophonic sound (" Fantasound ").
- 1941: A bitter Animators' Strike occurs; as the USA enters World War II , the studio begins making morale-boosting propaganda films for the government.
- 1942: '' Saludos Amigos '' marks the beginning of a series of low-budget "package" animated films that would continue until 1950. '' Bambi '' is also released, after a six-year production period.
- 1944: The company is short on cash; a theatrical re-release of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' generates much-needed revenue and begins a reissue pattern for the animated feature films.
- 1945: For the first time, the studio hires live actors for a feature film ('' Song Of The South '').
- 1949: The studio begins production on its first all-live action feature, '' Treasure Island ''; the popular True-Life Adventures series begins.
- 1950: '' Cinderella '' is released, ending the series of "package" animated films and reviving Disney feature animation.
- 1952: Walt Disney forms WED Enterprises on December 16 to design his theme park.
- 1953: Walt Disney forms Retlaw Enterprises on April 6 to control the rights to his name. It will later own and operate several attractions inside Disneyland, including the Monorail and the Disneyland Railroad .
- 1954: The studio founds Buena Vista Distribution to distribute its feature films; beginning of the '' Disneyland '' TV program, which runs for decades under several different titles. Disney becomes one of the first American theatrical TV producers to show his recent films on television, although most of them are first shown in truncated versions to fit a one-hour time slot. Others are divided into two or more one-hour segments over several weeks, so that they can be shown on Disney's TV show.
- 1955: Disneyland Resort opens in Anaheim, California. '' Lady And The Tramp '', the first animated film in history to be shot in Widescreen , is released
- 1957: Walt Disney Productions went public on November 12 .
- 1967: Construction begins on Walt Disney World ; the underlying governmental structure (see Reedy Creek Improvement District ) is signed into law. '' The Jungle Book '', the last animated film involved with Walt Disney himself, is released.
- 1971: The Walt Disney World Resort opens in Orlando, Florida; Roy Oliver Disney dies; Donn Tatum becomes chairman and Card Walker becomes president.
- 1976: '' 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954 Film) '' becomes the first movie made by the studio to be shown on TV complete in one evening, as opposed to the way the Disney films were divided into weekly segments on his television show.
- 1977: Roy Edward Disney , son of Roy and nephew of Walt, resigns from the company citing a decline in overall product quality and issues with management.
- 1978: The studio licenses several minor titles to MCA Discovision for Laserdisc release; only TV compilations of cartoons ever see the light of day through this deal.
- 1979: Don Bluth and a number of his allies leave the animation division; the studio releases its first PG-rated films, '' Take Down '' and '' The Black Hole ''.
- 1980: Tom Wilhite becomes head of the film division with the intent of modernizing studio product; a home video division is created.
- 1981: Plans for a cable network are announced. Dumbo hits the shelves for video retail, making it the first animated Disney feature available on video.
- 1982: EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World ; Walt Disney's son-in-law Ron W. Miller succeeds Card Walker as CEO.
- 1983: As the Anthology Series is canceled, Disney Channel begins operation on US cable systems. Tom Wilhite resigns his post as head of the film division. Tokyo Disneyland opens in Japan .
- 1984: Touchstone Films is created after the studio narrowly escapes a buyout attempt by Saul Steinberg , and releases their first film '' Splash ''. Roy Edward Disney and his business partner, Stanley Gold , remove Ron W. Miller as CEO and president, replacing him with Michael Eisner and Frank Wells . The Walt Disney Classics and Masterpiece video collection starts up.
- 1985: The studio begins making cartoons for television beginning with Adventures Of The Gummi Bears and The Wuzzles . '' The Black Cauldron '', the studio's first PG-rated animated film, is released, but is a box office failure. The home video release of ''Pinocchio'' becomes a best-seller.
- 1986: The company's name is changed on February 6 from Walt Disney Productions to The Walt Disney Company. Disney's first R-rated film, '' Down And Out In Beverly Hills '', is released under the Touchstone banner.
- 1987: The company and the with Fred MacMurray as the first induction.
- 1989: Disney offers a deal to buy Jim Henson 's Muppets and have the famed puppeteer work with Disney resources; the Disney-MGM Studios open at Walt Disney World ; '' The Little Mermaid '' sparks a Disney animation renaissance.
- 1990: Jim Henson 's death sours the deal to buy his holdings; the anthology series is canceled for the second time.
- 1991: '' Beauty And The Beast '' is released, becoming the first animated film nominated for the Academy Award For Best Picture .
- 1992: The controversial Euro Disney Resort opens outside Paris, France . '' Aladdin '' is released for the first time ever and becomes the animated movie with the most Golden Globe nominations, as well as the only traditionally animated movie to be nominated for the MTV Movie Award for best picture.
- 1992: The Disney Company is granted permission for a National Hockey League expansion franchise. The team is named the Mighty Ducks Of Anaheim to co-incide with the release of '' The Mighty Ducks .''
- 1993: Disney acquires independent film distributor Miramax Films ; Winnie The Pooh merchandise outsells Mickey Mouse merchandise for the first time; the policy of periodic theatrical re-issues ends with this year's re-issue of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' but is augmented for video.
- 1994: Frank Wells is killed in a helicopter crash. Jeffrey Katzenberg resigns to co-found his own studio, DreamWorks SKG . Plans for Disney's America , a historical theme park in Haymarket, Virginia , are abruptly dropped. No explanation is given, and Disney announces a search for an alternate location. Euro Disneyland is renamed Disneyland Paris . '' The Lion King '', the highest-grossing traditionally animated film in history (unadjusted for inflation), is released.
- 1995: In October, the company hires Hollywood super agent, Michael Ovitz , to be president. The world's first computer animated feature film '' Toy Story '', produced by Pixar Animation Studios , is released by Disney, and becomes the year's top-grossing film.
- 1996: The company takes on the Disney Enterprises name and acquires the Capital Cities/ABC group, renaming it ABC, Inc. To celebrate the pairing, ABC's first Super Soap Weekend is held at Walt Disney World. Disney makes deal with Tokuma Shoten for dubbing and releasing of Studio Ghibli films in the U.S. In December, Michael Ovitz, president of the company, leaves "by mutual consent."
- 1997: The anthology series is revived again; the home video division releases its first DVD s. The Southern Baptist Convention votes to boycott The Walt Disney Company over opposition to the latter offering equal health and other benefits to gays and lesbians, as well as Disney allowing outside organizers to have "Gay and Lesbian Days" at Walt Disney World. Disney ignored the boycott, which failed and was withdrawn by the SBC on June 22, 2005. Southern Baptists drop Disney boycott
- 1998: Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World . '' Kiki's Delivery Service '', the first Studio Ghibli film under the Disney/Ghibli deal, is released on video.
- 2000: Disney-owned TV channels are pulled from Time Warner Cable briefly during a dispute over carriage fees; Robert Iger becomes president. Disney begins their Gold Classic Collection and Platinum Edition DVD line, replacing their Classic and Masterpiece Collection series.
- 2001: Disney's California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea open to the public; Disney begins releasing ''Walt Disney Treasures'' DVD box sets for the collector's market. Disney buys Fox Family for $3 billion in July, giving Disney programming and cable network reaching 81 million homes.
- 2001: Fort Worth billionaire Sid Bass is forced to sell his Disney holdings due to a Margin Call caused partially by the stockmarket fall that followed the 9/11 attacks. Bass didn't own his shares outright but had bought them on Margin was unknown and a shock when it was revealed. Losing Bass is a blow to Eisner - Bass had been a major backer of Eisner and he had recruited Eisner to Disney.
- 2002: Walt Disney Studios open near Disneyland Paris (renamed Disneyland Park ). The entire area is now called Disneyland Resort Paris . Disney finishes negotiations to acquire Saban Entertainment, owner of children's entertainment juggernaut Power Rangers . Subsidiary Miramax acquires the USA rights to the Pokémon movies starting with the fourth movie.
- 2002: Disney teams up with famous video game company Squaresoft (later known as Square-Enix ) to release their first ever Role-playing Game with various Disney characters, '' Kingdom Hearts ''. Disney begins joint venture business with Sanrio for Sanrio's greeting cards.
- 2002: Disney's movie Treasure Planet is released in theaters.
- 2003: '' is released, becoming the first film released under the Disney label with a PG-13 rating.
- 2004: Comcast makes an unsuccessful Hostile Bid for the company. CEO Michael Eisner is replaced by George J. Mitchell as chairman of the board after a 43% vote of no confidence. Disney turns down distributing controversial documentary film '' Fahrenheit 9/11 '', which ends up making $100 million. On February 17 , Disney buys the Muppets (excluding the '' Sesame Street '' characters).
- 2005: On July 8 Roy E. Disney rejoins the company as a consultant with the title of Director Emeritus.
- 2005: '''' is released in the US breaking many box office records. The film '' King Kong '' was also released the same weekend.
- 2005: Disneyland celebrates its 50th anniversary on July 17 . Hong Kong Disneyland officially opens on September 12 .
- 2005: Bob Iger replaces Michael Eisner as CEO on October 1 . Also on October 1 , Miramax co-founders Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein left the company to form their own Studio .
- 2006: The Disney Channel Original Movie , High School Musical airs on January 20 .Becomes most successful movie at its time with 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast in the US. Soundtrack was released on January 10, 2006 and was the best selling album of 2006, selling 6,469 copies in its first week and climbed to #1 on the Billboard album chart in early March and again in late March of 2006.
- 2006: On '' is released, breaking multiple box office records, including highest-grossing opening day and opening weekend. The film also becomes the third film in motion picture history to gross over US$ 1 billion, when unadjusted for inflation.
- 2006: Disney sets record for number of people to visit its parks. A record of 112 Million people visited Disney parks in 2006.
- 2006: Disney reacquires the rights to the Walt Disney -era Oswald The Lucky Rabbit films from NBC Universal .
- 2006: Disney releases the "Cars" computer animated movie by Pixar on June 9 .
- 2007: Disney released their first non-movie or TV show related media – '' Spectrobes '', a video game for the Nintendo DS .
- 2007: The revival of the Disney/ Amblin Entertainment partnership and the Roger Rabbit franchise which may lead to new theme park appearances, new theme park rides for the Disney MGM Studios area, the Roger Rabbit sequel and lots more.
- 2007: The Walt Disney Company Buys Supermarket Sweep .
- 2007: The Walt Disney Company Partners With Club Penguin
- 2007: The Disney Channel Original Movie , High School Musical 2 airs August 17 .The film set a new basic cable record upon its premiere, with a total of 17.24 million viewers tuning in, almost 10 million more than the debut of High School Musical , making it the highest rated basic cable broadcast of all time.
- 1984-1994: Frank Wells
- 1999-2000: Sanford Litvack (acting COO)
- 2000-present: Robert Iger
The formal position of Chief Operating Officer was not created until Wells and Eisner came in with Eisner taking the titles of Chairman and CEO and Wells, President and COO.
- The worldwide commercial success of the Disney brand is viewed by some as detrimental to Cultural Diversity (see Disneyfication ).
- Disney is one among several American companies lobbying for harsher enforcement of Intellectual Property around the world and continued copyright term extensions, posing a perceived threat to the existence of the Public Domain ; see Mickey Mouse Protection Act . Disney has aggressively protected its intellectual property, including suing three Hallandale , Florida daycares for featuring Disney characters on their walls. The images were removed and replaced with Hanna-Barbera characters instead.http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp
- While the Disney Company is fiercely protective of the copyright on its stories, those stories are frequently based on public domain materials, such as folk and fairy tales. Disney has also been accused of plagiarizing ideas from copyrighted sources; elements of ''''.
- The College Program at Disney World has attracted criticism. The program annually provides 8,000 college students with a five-to-eight month internship. Critics argue that Disney is exploiting the program as a source of cheap labor, as interns do the same work as regular employees, but at a substantially lower pay rate. The interns are also required to work at anytime and have no holidays off.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8464524/
- Disney has also been accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories that produce their merchandise. Among these is a campaign by the National Labor Committee drawing attention to abuses at the Niagra Textiles factory in Bangladesh and the use of sweatshop labor.http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/niagra/niagra-bangladesh.pdf
- Another report, conducted in 2001 by The Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee on factories producing Disney merchandise in China's Guangdong province, concluded that "Disney's code of conduct and monitoring system are ineffective and of little use to workers", some of whom were as young as sixteen.http://www.somo.nl/monitoring/reports/hkcic01-02.htm Based on this evidence, The Maquila Solidarity Network and Oxfam Canada awarded Disney their ''Sweatshop Retailer of the Year award'' for 2001; Wal-Mart came in second and Nike placed third.http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2001/06/18/sweatshops_010618.html source
- Disney has been criticized by animal welfare groups for its import, use and frequent deaths of wild animals at its The supplier, a New York breeder, admitted to shipping the dogs under the minimum age specified by federal law and was charged with forging health certificates [http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS/704130335/-1/rss01 to facilitate their shipment to Canada.
- ''Walt Disney: An American Original'', Bob Thomas, 1976, revised 1994
- ''The Story of Walt Disney'', Diane Disney Miller & Pete Martin, 1957
- ''Cult of the Mouse: Can We Stop Corporate Greed from Killing Innovation in America?'', Henry M. Caroselli, 2004, Ten Speed Press, ISBN
- ''The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney'', Richard Schickel, 1968, revised 1997, ISBN
- ''The Man Behind the Magic; the Story of Walt Disney'', Katherine & Richard Greene, 1991, revised 1998
- ''Disney: The Mouse Betrayed'', Peter Schweizer
- ''Storming the Magic Kingdom: Wall Street, the raiders, and the battle for Disney'', John Taylor, 1987, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DC1E3EF933A25756C0A961948260 , ISBN ISBN
- ''Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire'', Bob Thomas, 1998, ISBN
- ''How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic'' ISBN 0-88477-023-0 (Anti-Disney Marxist Critique) Ariel Dorfman , Armand Mattelart , David Kunzle
- ''Donald Duck Joins Up; the Walt Disney Studio During World War II'', Richard Shale, 1982
- ''The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip'', Kim Masters, 20, ISBN
- ''Building a Dream; The Art of Disney Architecture'', Beth Dunlop, 1996
- ''Disneyization of Society'': Alan Bryman , 2004, ISBN
- '' DisneyWar '', James B. Stewart , 2005, ISBN, ISBN
- ''Married to the Mouse,'' Richard E. Foglesorg, Yale University Press.
- ''Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records'', Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar, 2006, ISBN
- ''Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland'', David Koenig, 1994, revised 2005, ISBN 0-9640605-4-X
- ''Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney'', Katherine Greene & Richard Greene, 2001, ISBN
- '' Team Rodent ,'' Carl Hiassen.
- ''Disneyana: Walt Disney Collectibles'', Cecil Munsey, 1974
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