Walt Disney Studios Acquires Marvel for $4 Billion
Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.
Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.
"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, The First Avenger: Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."
"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Iger said.
"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's Chief Executive Officer. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.
The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.
UPDATE: (6:15 PM PST Longtime Marvel mainstay Stan Lee recently released a statement about Disney's purchase of Marvel.
Statement from Mr. Stan Lee, Founder/Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment and Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Media regarding today's announcement of Disney's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment.
"I couldn't be happier with this agreement. It's great move for Disney, for Marvel and for my company Pow! Entertainment since Pow! has a first look deal with Disney. From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in Heaven,
Just imagine, with this deal Marvel gives Disney a library of literally hundreds of unique and colorful characters that have the potential to make great, high-concept movies and long-lasting franchises-and nobody knows how to play in that ball park better than Disney.
This is a great day for the two companies and for the entertainment community as a whole. To sum it up as simply as possible, when you combine the best with the best, everyone wins!"
"I couldn't be happier with this agreement. It's great move for Disney, for Marvel and for my company Pow! Entertainment since Pow! has a first look deal with Disney. From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in Heaven,
Just imagine, with this deal Marvel gives Disney a library of literally hundreds of unique and colorful characters that have the potential to make great, high-concept movies and long-lasting franchises-and nobody knows how to play in that ball park better than Disney.
This is a great day for the two companies and for the entertainment community as a whole. To sum it up as simply as possible, when you combine the best with the best, everyone wins!"
Comments (91)
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CBF
BTW there goes Spidey ever getting back with MJ and the entire 20+ year marriage history ever coming back. There goes everything Stan Lee built. F*ck Joe Quesada, I know he was behind this buyout.
2 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag
CBF
F*CK Disney.
They ruin everything.
2 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag
silent_reactor99_sx
There goes wolverine and any other marvel character gettin their own movie in the future.
2 years agoby @silent-reactor99-sxFlag
The First Avenger: JohnnyBlaze
Ok that's fine as far as movies go but what about the comic books? are they being affected as well?
2 years agoby @johnnyblazetb82Flag
supermanx8
There was news of Disney goin broke with their theme parks and disney stores bankrupt. If Marvel would've hold out longer till they've grown stronger and the Disney corp. is dying. They then would have the power to buy Disney. Now all of Marvel's years of creativity is going down the drain. FCK YOU DISNEY!
2 years agoby @supermanx8Flag
Bawnian-Dexeus
wow, its 50/50 with ppl who hate the idea and adore it
2 years agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
The Narrator: The Better Man
I know what you mean Chad. Now that I think about it, it may be the only thing I fully look forward to. I am going to pray to God the studios do a Hawkeye motion capture movie. It would make him all the cooler...And yeah I preferably want to see Bane and Deadshot, and Clayface in MC the most. Lizard would still be weird.
2 years agoby @narratorFlag
Chad Vital
Yeah lesser knowns for sure could be motion capture. I'm down for a Hawkeye movie lol. Too bad that Batman isn't Marvel in that way, motion captured Batman film just so we can see the unrealistic villians I have always wanted to see like Killer Croc, Clayface, Scarface, and redo of Bane lol.
2 years agoby @chad-vitalFlag
The Narrator: The Better Man
Stan Lee Why?
And yeah I'm with chad. Beowulf style, a.k.a. Motion Capture, would be great for the smaller/less important, but still cool marvel heroes, like HAWKEYE, or DEADPOOL, since they don't seem to be including him at all in the avengers, and Deadpool is/will be in production hell.
2 years agoby @narratorFlag
Chad Vital
If you guys are saying some Marvel films in the vein of Beowulf style animation then yes I'd agree, but not if they look in the vein of like JJHollaway said, Toy Story. Even more cartoony is a bad idea.
2 years agoby @chad-vitalFlag
JJHOLLAWAY
all everyone is saying is how this is benefiting Disney, this doesnt benefit Marvel because they were making so much sucesss in the last 4-5 years and Disney said" we gotta get a piece of this" Think marvel, i do NOT wanna see meatballs raining on Thor: God of thunder.....AND TO USE PIXAR?????? THIS AINT TOY STORY(not a bad movie) THIS IS EPICNESS...THIS IS MARVEL!!!!!!!!
2 years agoby @jjhollawayFlag
T.Clark
"The Mouse of Ideas"
2 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag
P.A.C.K. '75
Alright, nobody panic!
This is a win-win for both houses, Mouse and Ideas. They will both going to make ridiculous amounts of money! This cash influx will help insulate Marvel from bankruptcy (remember the mid 90's?) and put them on a Warner Brothers level of control and distribution of it's properties.
While distribution rights remain as-is for the time being you know darn well that Disney will, in the long run, gather up all of those rights and bring them under the Disney umbrella. This will further protect the Marvel characters from being totally effed up by studios that don't have a stake in them.
And think about this: Remember how great "The Incredibles" was? And just recently "Up"? Now imagine Pixar turned loose on the Marvel stable of characters
2 years agoby @apinneyFlag
peanuts and other poisons
Well,i guess we'll be looking at Miley cyrus as the invisable woman in the next fantastic four film.Probably the Jonas brothers as wolverine cyclops and the beast.
This is the possibly the worst news ive ever heard,oh now im really depressed.
2 years agoby @vendetta1Flag
Bane5000
i agree as long as disney just has distribution rights to the movies and not creative control over the films im kool with it, but if they start butting there nose in how the characters should be and the way the film should look, no thanx, so just sit shotgun disney while marvel stays in the driving seat and do wat they do best and make ur money from it
2 years agoby @bane5000Flag
Structure (ONSTRA)
to tell you the truth.. disney wont make the movies look bad.. you know why.. its easy.. they produced sin city.. and that was one hell of a ride.. so i am not worrying about anything. everything is staying the same..
and to tell you the truth.. some disney movies.. that are only released by disney had been truly good. now of course some people gotta critic this.. but to tell you the truth.. i am on disney's side.. and idc what anyone will say
2 years agoby @gaj1992Flag
Chad Vital
Luckily, there are only a few characters who are dark so that's not too bad. If let's say this were DC, then you could kiss your dark sequel to The Dark Knight goodbye lol. Thankfully, it's Marvel. Which still kinda sucks I am not very happy with this. Yeah they will sell more and get more exposure but I care about quality and accuracy, not saturation. I don't want to be swimming in sh*t movies ya know? And the thing is, I can't even name one of Disney's own films that were successful other than Pirates of the Carribeans trilogy. The cartoons maybe? But they are all classic ones though, which means kind of nothing really since all the new cartoon-ish films nowadays are Pixar animated based. Pixar makes Disney what it is now, not Disney by itself. I hope they don't focus on the kids aspects for these characters. Disney is kid based, there is literally no way you can argue that lol. So with that being said, they better not make all these characters even more kid friendly or I swear people will burn down the studios lol. I can just see it now, instead of Wolverine stabbing people he tickles them with his claws. This also means that you can kiss any chance of a dark or R rated ish DareDevil film. Which is what I was hoping for.
If they change Marvel then they will be ruined, since now it's the biggest thing they have ever done since aquiring Pixar. If they didn't have that they'd be nothing but a classic studio and that's it.
2 years agoby @chad-vitalFlag
MC Legendary
i spoke in haste and aggravation on the Punisher. i guess im just still writhing in pain after what fox did to x-men.. but anyway Warzone was a solid film until the f*ckin' parkour gang i mean JESUS CHRIST.. but i guess I'm mostly upset with the fact that i won't be hearing Sammy L say "I'm sick and tired of these mother f*cking SKRULLS on this mother f*cking planet!!!" anytime in the future.. DRATTS!!!
2 years agoby @normanse7enFlag
furiousangel2
T-h-e E-n-d
2 years agoby @furiousangel2Flag
Punishment 2012
So now Mickey mouse can fight wolverine. It's going be a bloodbath!
2 years agoby @dizoyleFlag
GK
At least Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Avengers movie is still with Paramount.
2 years agoby @indianajonesFlag
Delgren
Going off those last two paragraphs you wrote ZanyZap, I wonder what they're going to do with the MAX comic line. The Garth Ennis run of Punisher alone is enough to make Mickey Mouse's head explode from all the gratuitous violence much less Tipper Gore and PMRC.
The reason you don't see any more animated features is because disney lost a lot of money with the last ones so they just deep sixed that department, and put all their resources into Pixar.
2 years agoby @delgrenFlag
slysnide
That's right on the money JA...literally. They're trying to find ways to stay alive in their film department. But like I said below, thank God the Batman franchise aint a Marvel product cuz you'd never see anything as dark as "TDK" under Disney's watch.
2 years agoby @slysnideFlag
ZanyZap
Kick Ass will without a doubt be rated R. Tons of blood and language, most of the latter coming from an eleven-year-old girl.
The simple truth of the matter: Never, ever, put a cap, or limit, on a story or movie idea. If a studio goes into a movie saying, "we're going to have this many f-words, an occasional shot of blood" then all creativity is essentially f*cked in the face.
Follow the restraints of the character, not those of the studios or producers. For example, a Spiderman film will not, and was never intended, to have blood, guts, and profanity. On the other hand, a Punisher film with bright colors, beds of flowers, and a PG13 structure would not fly on the screen or in the eyes of dedicated fans and/or Joe Blow moviegoers.
I suppose my point is to simply keep the continuity of the source material (or original idea). Uphold the story's dignity, not your moral obligation as the family friendly, mommy and daddy studio of Hollywood.
I'm hoping that Disney does not fall into that complex, degrading the story for the sake of "the whole family." But like I said in my previous comment, it's an "only time will tell" situation.
I haven't read the other comments, but The Fallen below me had some legit points.
Q.E.D.
2 years agoby @zanyzapFlag
J.A.Ottley.Writer / Director
I concur with Fallen. Disney when really crap after Lilo & Stitch, not they are just well crap.
The magic has disappeared in their movies i think.
My general opinion is Pixar is the one keeping them alive as a movie business.
Pirates was good as well, and probably about it best live-action movie to date, they've just lost touch.
And now to get back they are buying all these companies to take over
2 years agoby @chronicFlag
Davon's Movieweb
?????
2 years agoby @davon29Flag
Pearlnin
Delgren your probably right about Kick-Ass
2 years agoby @pearlninFlag
The Narrator: The Better Man
Oh and Comrade, The Surrgoates looks great, but the bad guys look nothing like the comic. Sorry. I mean a motorcycle head instead of a cool mask/armor ninja thing. Not necessarily their fault but yeah.
2 years agoby @narratorFlag
The Narrator: The Better Man
IF they keep it under Touchstone, I am fine with it, but that's a huge IF. Like I aid, I will wait and see. Comrade, sorry, I meant for the past decade meaning ten years. The only movies I liked from there were as follows:
Pirates Trilogy
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Wall-E
Monsters Inc
Toy Story 2
and thats about it for me. All of them from the top of my head. I may have missed a few, but you get my point.
Disney is hit or miss. And they are known for squeezing the dime off of everything they have, or at least trying to. Overall, I don't like them. Pixar is another subject.
MAYBE this deal with Dreamworks will be cool. They can make some cool Marvel characters. Its them or touchstone, like I said, but I just don't want them to water down any characters and or find some way to hold on to Marvel. I'm with Slysnide below me. Too bad for the other projects. I will still see them, but Marvel missed out on something really good that they had good going for themselves.
P.S. Touchstone didn't make the Prestige. Warner Brothers did.
2 years agoby @narratorFlag
Pearlnin
Newkill200, Never Say Never Again. You said there were never occasional R- rated marval movies, I'm correcting you once again. The Blade movies, Howard the Duck, 3 punisher movies, and Man-Thing.
2 years agoby @pearlninFlag