Disney acquires Marvel in $4 billion deal

Gingerbread Lesbian

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Not that I care on bit for Marvel, but it's quite big news so...

Disney’s announced it’s acquiring Marvel for around $4 billion. That’s roughly $50 per Marvel share, a 30 percent premium to Marvel’s current share price.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, 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 Disney head Robert A Iger.

“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.”

Disney now owns over 5,000 Marvel characters. There may be some videogames involved.

Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters
BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK, Aug 31, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — –Acquisition highlights Disney’s strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (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, 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.
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Source: Disney acquires Marvel in $4 billion deal

:monster:
 
Omg they agreed? Oh no this is not good what if some marvel people appear in Kingdom Hearts now. That will be srsly the most fucked Up thing I have ever seen. Wow lets hope this does not happen or KH will be horrible.
 
I hope this doesn't have any serious effects on Marvel. I don't want to see Disney slapped everywhere and for them to start merging the two.

Seriously, I like both Disney and Marvel but they are two completely different kinds of magic.

I'm confused as to what this will imply for the future.
 
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If they ever did merge the characters and stories or whatever together, I'd give it a chance. Remember what everyone thought of Kingdom Hearts before we gave it a go? The pairing was ridiculous at first but now, somehow, it just fits.
 
What I like about Marvel is the dark nature of the characters and locations. I hope Disney don't start toning them down to please the audience that the reach out to most i.e. young children, which would just ruin the whole point of the Marvel Universe. Wolverine bursting into song would not be cool...
I actually wouldn't mind Marvel characters in KH, it would give the series a bit more grit, give it an edge (IMO).
 
Someone mentioned this on another forum Im part of and I cant believe it. Disney and Mavel ... what the hell?? Kinda at the opposite ends of the market arent they?
 
I wouldn't get too worried about it. Consider ABC being owned by Disney. Despite its affliation with Disney, ABC still continues to make dramas with adult humour such as Desperate Housewives, Grays Anatomy and Ugly Betty, shows with swearing, violence, sexual referrences and social issues, much heavier stuff than Marvel tend to deal with.

Now this has happened, I wouldn't be suprised if we see a crossover in the near future, but I can't see them changing the nature of their comics and shows, that'll just pose a risk of losing Marvel's audience and Disney hasn't got where it is today by making silly mistakes like that. So honestly I don't think Marvel fans need to worry.
 
From what people told me in another forum. It probably won't be that bad, considering the fact that Disney owned Touchstone, and Miamax Studios among others. They were acting almost autonomously (for those who suck at English, it means semi-independent) from Disney. I bet Marvel will be the same.
 
The only real reason i can see marvel doing this is because they've been treading the line for quite awhile now. Being with Disney gives them an almost unlimited supply of money to use.
 
That's true...the Fantastic Four 2 movie sucked! I bet they lost a lot of money.
I would still like to see Spider-man or some other cool hero in KH! That would be awesome!
 
Argor251 said:
I hope this doesn't have any serious effects on Marvel. I don't want to see Disney slapped everywhere and for them to start merging the two.

Seriously, I like both Disney and Marvel but they are two completely different kinds of magic.

I'm confused as to what this will imply for the future.
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^ This. A lot of people are looking at it one way, but I'm just as concerned as to how this will affect Marvel. There's a lot of darker elements to the publication as a whole, and I really don't want that to suffer because they've now connected to the other end of the entertainment pool.

Tony Stark should remain an asshole and a womanizer, The Hulk should retain the kind of threat he was during the "World War" arc, Spiderman should continue to express darker sides to science and people, X-Men and it's social commentary on prejudice, so on and so on. So I hope Goofy's right about the ABC thing.

In that same token, I don't want Disney to start slapping Marvel in all of their products either. Maybe something like what they did with Star Wars, so long as its kept to a limit.

I guess it's just that, as stated, they're two different kinds of magic, and I hope they stay that way despite this transaction.
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Does anyone think that Marvel really needs the money or support? I mean, they've been in the process of gearing towards "The Avengers" after projects like "Iron Man 2" and "Captain America". I think they'd have been in great shape regardless.
 
Lara Croft said:
Wow.

SE bought Eidos, Disney bought Marvel...all that's left to make my gaming world complete is for Blizzard to get in the mix, somehow. <_<
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Vivendi (company owning Blizzard) merged with Activision a while ago, making them the biggest video game publisher in the world. Yes even bigger than EA :P

I don't really get why some people are so worried about this. Marvel themselves have been making kiddie cartoons for decades, and that never affected their more mature oriented products. Only difference in that regard will probably be that we might see Spiderman - The New Animated Adventures on the Disney Channel.

What really intrigues me though, is that any future movies based on Marvel franchises will now be made by the actual copyright holders. That could prove to be a very good thing.
 
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Like I said when I first heard about this...what?

It just doesn't make sense to me. To me, they're both really different brands that cater to different demographics; just what's going on here? o_O
 
Fusionist said:
Like I said when I first heard about this...what?

It just doesn't make sense to me. To me, they're both really different brands that cater to different demographics; just what's going on here? o_O
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Actually they aren't really. Disney and Marvel share a big key demographic in kids and young adults. I bet you that branches like Marvel Toys, Marvel Animation, and Marvel Films are where the money's really at. Not Marvel Comics
 
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