By Christiana Ioannou
How it became one of the biggest companies in the industry?
Walt Disney is an American entertainment company founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Roy Disney and Walt. It is the second-largest entertainment and media corporation worldwide after Time Warner. The company, since its foundation, was operating with several names including: initially Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions, before officially changing its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986. Disney has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios known for its iconic television and film holdings, international theme parks, characters, and toys.
In this article, you will read about the financial evolution of Walt Disney Company and how it became one of the biggest companies in the world.
Financial Evolution of The Walt Disney Company
The financial evaluation of Disney is full of towering figures and great personalities. Many of the richest people in history got there by building empires of fur, oil, steel, rails, and software. From transforming the entertainment industry to winning Oscar and creating a net worth of over $201.55 billion since 1923, the company continued to prosper & became one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world.
Alice Wonderland and Mickey Mouse:
Walt Disney started its business in the entertainment industry by first making animated cartoons. The company began to animate cartoons mainly by starring funny animals. It created the first short film entitled Alice’s Wonderland in 1923 but didn’t get success. After this Disney developed an all-cartoon series starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit that also made only a few hundred dollars. To recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the Walt Disney Studio released its first sound film Steamboat Willie, a cartoon starring Mickey Mouse through Pat Powers distribution company, in 1928. The film was an immediate smash hit as it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Since the success of Mickey Mouse, the company grown in its strength & popularity now became the World’s largest independent media company.
Silly Symphonies and Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs:
In 1928, Disney produced the Silly Symphonies series. The Walt Disney Studios partnership was also reorganized as a corporation with the name of Walt Disney Production, Limited with two subsidiaries – Disney Film Recording Company and Lilied Realty and Investment Company, for real estate holdings. In 1932, the company also signed a contract with Technicolor to produce cartoons in colours. Decided to push the boundaries of animation, Disney produced its first feature-length animation film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1934. This feature-length animated film had revolutionized the industry and proved animation’s effectiveness as a vehicle for feature-length stories. The great success of Snow White leads Walt Disney Productions to have its initial public offering that was a huge milestone achieved financially. After World War II began, the box office profits declined while the US & Canadian governments commissioned Disney studios to produce war-related films. The company also produced several films during the war including, Melody Time, The Three Caballeros, and True-life Adventure Series.
Disneyland, Television, and death of Walt Disney:
During the 1950s, the company produced another feature-length animation film Cinderella, Alice in the Wonderland, Treasure Island, The Sword & the Rose, etc. Disney Productions also started its first television venture during the same period. In 1954, Walt Disney used his Disneyland series to create a Disneyland, an idea conceived out of a desire for a place where parents and children could both have fun at the same time. On July 18, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland to the general public that attracted a large number of visitors around the world. The company also announced a “Disney World” with plans for theme parks, hotels, and even a model city. In 1960, the company also produced its most successful film – a live-action/animation adaptation of Marry Poppins, which was one of the all-time highest-grossing movies.
In 1966, Walt Disney died of lung cancer & Roy O. Disney took over as CEO, Chairman, and president of the company. The studio released several comedies in the late 1960s under the supervision of Roy Disney. After the death of Roy O. Disney, the company released a much successful film, Robbin Hood. During the 1970s and ’80s, the company produced few films of note and realized its greatest profits from the distribution of old films and from Disney World, which had become one of the world’s leading tourist destinations.
In the early 1980s, the company broadened its product line and founded Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary devoted to producing films for adult audiences. Touchstone created some of the most financially and critically successful films of the 1980s and ’90s. The 1990s were a hugely successful decade for the company & its stocks grew by leaps and bounds. So far, the company has produced several blockbuster films including, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean Sea, The Avengers, etc.
Conclusion:
With constant innovation and pushing the boundaries of animation, the company became a business and grew from a moderately successful animation studio to a complete entertainment experience.
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