Disney Buys Marvel, is Universal Next?
Posted by Ashley McChesney on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 03:44 PM
Disney buys Marvel for $4 billion in a deal expected to close by the end of the year.
In a statement, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said
"adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation."
Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own.
Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters, including The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, all of which have been turned into highly valuable feature film franchises. Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's CEO, would continue to oversee the Marvel properties, and work directly with Disney executives to integrate them into Disney's businesses.
Marvel fans don't seem very happy about the merger saying that they now expect Marvel story lines to become watered down in order to make them more kid friendly. Although not every company that Disney owns gets a Disney logo stamped on it. Not many people know that Disney owns Miramax film company (who's library includes several Tarentino films), as well as ESPN (80%), and Touchstone Pictures, and that is only naming a few.
It seems stockholders are torn on the new owner. While Marvel stocks are up about 25% today (although they are still trending well under what they did last year), and Disney has dipped down almost 3%. Disney has said the boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but it will require an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.
One point of this deal is to help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel superheroes such as Iron Man in recent years. That contrasts with Disney's recent successes among young women with such fare as "Hannah Montana" and the Jonas Brothers.
The question of the fate of Universal parks has not been answered yet. Universal Studios Islands of Adventure houses an entire set of rides who's themes and namesakes are part of the Marvel library of characters, including Dr. Doom, the Hulk, Storm of the X-men, and Spiderman to name just a few. It seems that Universal will have to pay Disney to use the names and likeness of these characters or Disney will buy out Universal outright, but neither of those options will be acted on in the near future. It seems that Universal has rights to these existing characters for the states to the east of mississippi. This still raises the question if they will have to pay Disney for an advertising done in the states not included in this deal or if Disney will have to pay Universal to use those characters until Universal's contract is up. On a side note, Universal Theme Park stock is traded under GE, and their stocks have gone down almost 1.5%.
**Update**
A statement released from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida-
"Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal's Islands of Adventure and the Marvel characters are a beloved and important part of the Universal Orlando experience...We believe our agreement with Marvel stands and that the Disney/Marvel deal will have no impact on our guest experience."