Disney to buy Marvel for $4b
In this July 24, 2008 file photo, Marvel Comics "Incredible Hulk" looms over attendees at the Comic-Con 2008 convention in San Diego. The Walt Disney Co. said Monday, Aug. 31, 2009, it is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E.(AP Photo/Denis Poroy, file)
This is coming straight from the wire today
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E.
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.
Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to seeMarvel’s superhero fare in recent years. That contrasts with Disney’s recent successes among young women with such fare as “Hannah Montana” and the Jonas Brothers.
“It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with,” Joyce said, noting the $4 billion offer was at “full price.”
Disney said Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. That values each Marvel share at $50 based on Friday’s closing stock prices.
Marvel shares jumped $10.17, or 26 percent, to $48.82 shortly after the market opened. Disney shares fell 47 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $26.37.
Disney said the boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but it will require an antitrust review and the approval of Marvelshareholders.
Disney last made a big purchase in 2006 when it acquired Pixar Animation Studios Inc., the creator of the “Toy Story” franchise, for $7.4 billion in stock.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said the latest acquisition combines Marvel’s ”strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters” with Disney’s “unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties” and ability to maximize value across multiple platforms and territories.
Marvel earned a net profit of $206 million last fiscal year, up 47 percent from a year earlier, on revenue of $676 million, as it took movie production in house instead of just cutting licensing deals.
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So, huge news coming from Marvel today. I’m traveling back from LA today. I will gather opinions and reactions as I can.
A few quick thoughts – this seems a lot like the Pixar acquisition, where Disney brought in a group that proved it could make money on its own. I wouldn’t expect huge shakeups in the movie plan, though a lot of these films will now likely be brought under the Disney umbrella. The Spider-Man/Sony film deal will likely be unaffected, though I assume Disney could add Spider-themed content to parks, etc. And they already have distribution rights to the 90s Spidey cartoon.
Something of huge interest to comic fans, of course, is what will this mean for comic shops and the direct market? In the very short-term, not much will change, I don’t think, but obviously this purchase could have huge repercussions in the coming years.