The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate [a company the owns many mass media companies] in the world in terms of revenue made. Disney was founded in 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy Disney. Disney were originally known as The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; they originally focused solely on American animation films and programmes, arguably the most famous example of of which is the debut of Mickey Mouse and sound in Disney films, Steamboat Willie.
In the space of 2 years leading up to Americas involvement in WWII, from 1940 to 1942, Disney produced four of their most famous films, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. During WWII, Disney, like so many film companies, focused mainly on Propaganda films. In 1953 Disney formed it's own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution. The creation of Buena Vista as Disney's personal distribution arm mean't they could maximise revenue and income, as they did not have to pay an outside distributor to distribute their films. This is perhaps the first example of Disney's Vertical Integration. In 1955, Disney opened Disneyland, Disney's own Theme Park. Currently there are five Disney Theme Parks/Resorts, In Orlando Florida, California, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. The creation and opening of Disneyland is considered to be the first example of Disney becoming a brand, as opposed to just another Film production company. Disney had created world famous characters in their films, and could capitalise on that with the creation of Disneyland. In 1956 Disney ventured outside of Films and capitalising on their merchandising, to create Walt Disney Records. This mean't they could sign world famous artists to their record label, to record songs for films, or just use their artists to advertise The Disney Company. Walt Disney Records focus on music for younger people, a list of former artists include Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Hilary Duff, all of which are also actors and were discovered and signed by Disney and all have appeared in several Disney films and TV programmes. The creation of Walt Disney Records is an example of Horizontal integration.
In 1979 ESPN was created, which Disney hold a controlling 80% stake in. This was the first major example of Disney expanding from the entertainment industry to a different industry, arguably the joint biggest and most lucrative industry worldwide, Sports. A controlling stake in ESPN means that Disney can advertise their products during events like Olympics, football World Cup Finals, SuperBowls and Champions League Finals. The Champions League Final is the most watched TV event annually worldwide, with the SuperBowl coming in as the second most watched TV event annually. Whereas the 2010 World Cup Final remains the most watched event in history, and the Olympics in 2012 is expected to be the most watched event in history. Advertising during these events, specifically the SuperBowl can cost up to $5m for just a 30 second slot, so Disney tying itself with a premiere worldwide sports broadcaster in ESPN can save them a huge amount of money.
1983 bought about the formation of The Disney Channel, Disney now had a format where they could exhibit their productions without it costing them. The third step of Vertical Integration. The Disney Channel has perhaps been the most important invention for Disney in the latter half of the 20th Century and early 21st Century, with the channel creating many famous characters and stars. Despite it's relatively young target audience, The Disney Channel is responsible for the likes of Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Raven-Symone, Hilary Duff, Demi Lovato and many other stars, all of which now are known throughout the world.
In 1984, Disney launched a separate Film Production company, called Touchstone Pictures. The reason Disney launched it was so they could produce films with more mature and darker content, without directly associating the name Disney, with a potentially dark film and damage their global brand. Touchstone have produced such films as Armageddon, Con Air, Pearl Harbour, Gone in 60 seconds, Enemy of the State and many more, all of which have themes that would not reflect well of the Disney channel if they put their brand to them. Touchstone have also expanded outside of film production, in 2007 they formed Touchstone Games in association with Disney. In 2008 they released their first and to date only video game, Turok, which received mixed reviews and wasn't a huge success. In 1993, Disney bought up the TV network ABC. ABC is currently the biggest worldwide broadcaster in terms of revenue, ahead of the likes of Fox, Al Jazeera, Sky and BBC. ABC have 4 major TV stations, ABC News, ABC kids, ABC Daytime and ABC Entertainment. Disney also hold an equal stake in Lifetime Entertainment Services, who own channels such as The History Channel, Military History Channel and Crime & Investigation Network. All of which broadcast in 3 continents worldwide. ABC's collection of TV series post Disney takeover include the likes of Desperate Housewives, My Wife and Kids, Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs.
Disney started their own Cruise line in 1998 based in Florida, named Disney Cruise Line. They travel throughout the Atlantic Ocean and across to Europe, and also in the Pacific, to Hawaii. In 2005 Disney launched itself into the world of online social networking and games with the invention of Club Penguin. Club Penguin still is operating to this day.
In 2006, Disney bought Pixar Studios for a reported $7.4 Billion, having previously worked along side Pixar with Toy Story. In 2009 Disney bought the world famous comic book name Marvel for $4 Billion. Most recently, in early February 2012 Disney bought UTV Software Communications, and Indian software company who produce a variety of media products throughout Asia, namely Bollywood films, TV programmes and games.
Throughout it's near 90 year history, Disney has gone through many CEO's and presidents. Walt Disney, the founder of Disney, served as President from Disney's creation in 1923 until his death in late 1966. Walt Disney's younger brother Roy Disney took over from Walt Disney in 1966 until his death in 1971. Card Walker took over from Disney in 1971 and was the first proper President who was not part of the Disney family. Walker was president until 1977. For 3 years Disney operated without a President before Ron Miller, son in law of Walt Disney, was named President in 1980, although he lasted only 4 years to 1984 before being replaced by Frank Wells. Frank Wells was in his role for 10 years until his death in 1994. Michael Ovitz took over from Frank Wells in 1995, although he lasted just 2 years until 1997. Once again Disney operated without a President for 3 years until Robert Iger became President in 2000, he remains President to this day.
The modern day CEO started around 1966, though Disney have had a CEO since 1923, the first being Roy Disney, he served as CEO from 1923 to his death in 1971, coupling it with being President for 5 years up to his death. Donn Tatum replaced Disney as CEO until 1976. Card Walker replaced Tatum in 1976 up to 1983. His successor, Ron Miller lasted as Disney CEO for just one year. Despite that he oversaw the creation of the Disney channel, and films such as Tron and the creation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Michael Eisner replaced Miller in 1984 and oversaw the rapid expansion of the Disney name and brand throughout the world. He served as CEO until 2005 when he resigned due to the 'Save Disney' campaign, This started due to a string of movie box office flops and failing business model. Robert Iger took over in 2005 and is still CEO today, combining that with his role as President of the Disney Company.
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