The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company
Formerly
  • Disney Brothers Studio
    (1923–1926)
  • Walt Disney Studio
    (1926–1929)
  • Walt Disney Productions
    (1929–1986)
TypePublic
Industry
PredecessorsLaugh-O-Gram Studio
FoundedOctober 16, 1923; 103 years ago (1923-10-16)
FoundersWalt Disney, Roy O. Disney
HeadquartersTeam Disney Building, Walt Disney Studios,
Burbank, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Susan Arnold
    (Chairwoman)
  • Bob Iger
    (CEO), John Nallen COO, Viet Dinh CLO, Tommy Lee CFO, at PBS (now part of Disney) Susan Arnold CFO, John Gelke VP Global Operations, J Young SVP Growth, Gerard Devan Group Executive APAC, Stephanie Gruber Group Executive Television, Christopher Greavu Vice President of Sales.
Products
Services
RevenueIncrease US$82.722 billion (2022)
Increase US$12.121 billion (2022)
Increase US$3.145 billion (2022)
Total assetsIncrease US$203.631 billion (2022)
Total equityIncrease US$98.879 billion (2022)
Number of employees
c. 220,000 (2022)
Divisions
Websitethewaltdisneycompany.com
Footnotes

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios Complex in Burbank, California. Disney was started on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986.

Disney is known for Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, Frozen, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled and Pinocchio. Pixar famous movies such as Toy Story and Cars. Marvel Comics well known famous superhero comics such as Spider-Man and Hulk. They also had Lucasfilm media franchises such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and Jim Henson's original franchises such as The Muppets.

In its early days the company established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie, which used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon and debuted the widely popular character Mickey Mouse, who would go on to become the company's mascot and corporate icon.

Divisions

The company's main units are Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, Media Networks and Consumer Products.

Studio Entertainment

This unit, also called the Walt Disney Studios, is headed by Chairman Dick Cook. It consists of:

One of the Studios' largest assets lies in Walt Disney Animation Studios, which has made a successful string of animated movies for almost seven decades. Because of failures with most of their recent additions, it has changed its focus from traditional hand-drawn to CGI movies. Pixar, also owned by Disney, is one of the first studios to create CGI movies. Since 2006, Disney has bought three movie studios: Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm and Pixar.

Parks and Resorts

Worldwide, Disney has eleven theme parks (as of June 2025)

Disney once owned the sports teams, the Angels (baseball) and the Mighty Ducks (ice hockey), both based in Anaheim, California. These teams were later sold to other people.

Disney Enterprises Inc.

Disney Enterprises Inc. is a subsidiary of the company; the name is found in many of its franchises.

Media Networks

The ABC television network, which Disney bought in 1995, serves as the center of this unit. Cable television channels within it include Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN on ABC, Freeform,and PBS (which Disney's ABC owns the Public TV network). It also partly owns Lifetime, A&E and E!.

Buena Vista Television, responsible for the syndication of many Disney series, produces some of its own as well: Tamron Hall, The View, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Ebert & Roeper.

Consumer Products

Merchandising and licensing within the company are overseen in this division. Disney Publishing Worldwide, part of this unit, has Disney Press, Disney Editions and Hyperion Books as its brands.

It once owned the Disney Store shopping chain until 2004, when it sold all the stores to The Children's Place.

History

Disney+

On November 12, 2019, Disney launched their own streaming service, Disney+. The platform features almost all of their cartoons, short movies, movies and TV shows along with those made by properties bought by Disney, such as Disney, The Muppets, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel. It also features original content, such as several Marvel and Star Wars programs.

References

  1. ↑ "Walt Disney". Fortune. Archived from the original on July 30, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  2. ↑ Gibson, Kate (June 24, 2022). "Disney among slew of U.S. companies promising to cover abortion travel costs". CBS News. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2022.

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