The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company 

The Walt Disney Company is an American company founded in 1923 by Walt Disney under the name Disney Brothers Studios. In 2012, it is the world's leading entertainment group, active in the media industry (newspapers, radio, television, internet) with television shows and series (Alias, Desperate Housewives etc.), cinema with short films, animation (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, etc.), animated feature films and live action films in the tourism industry (amusement parks including Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort, hotels , cruise ships) and entertainment (shows) as well as products derived from its numerous productions (games and toys, video games, clothes, etc.). It also distributes third-party productions.

The company was renamed Walt Disney Productions in 1929, then The Walt Disney Company in 1986 and was re-declared on February 11, 1987, in the state of Delaware, as many American companies. Its head office is in Burbank, California. The company was originally an animation studio founded by Walt and his brother Roy Oliver Disney in the early 1920s, which achieved great success with a series launched in 1928, Mickey Mouse. The 1940s triggered several changes with an IPO and tight financial requirements that led to a diversification of productions in the 1950s.

The studio then produced films with actors, television programs and built its first theme park. . After the death of Walt in 1966, then that of his brother in 1971, the company faces a certain slump in its productions. At the beginning of the 1980s, during an attempted takeover bid, the company was forced to change its shareholding and elect a new CEO, Michael Eisner. The latter launched, from the mid-1980s, many projects that allow the company to become profitable at the end of the decade by capitalizing on its productions such as Disney Channel, Disney Store or theme park developments.

The studio diversifies its film productions by creating or buying other studios (Miramax, Touchstone, Hollywood). In the mid-1990s, the company diversified into new Internet-related technologies (Walt Disney Internet Group), video games (Disney Interactive) and became a major media group, with the purchase of ABC-ESPN ( production and television broadcasting, radio). The beginning of the 2000s is marked by various financial problems and the sale of certain subsidiaries but, at the same time, the company makes numerous purchases of companies in various fields (internet, television, video games, etc.). 2000 sees the company become a manager and distributor of licenses with, among others, Disney catalogs, Baby Einstein, Muppets, Jetix, Pixar (bought in 2006), Marvel (bought late 2009) and Lucasfilm (bought in October 2012).