Disney to Buy Marvel Comics for 4 Billion

[Zoneboy]

The Walt Disney Company said Monday that it would buy the comic book giant Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion.


Under the terms of the deal, Marvel shareholders will receive a $30 a share in cash plus about 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. The boards of both companies have approved the deal, which was valued at $50 a share.

With the acquisition, Disney will acquire more than 5,000 Marvel characters.

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” the chief executive of Disney, Robert A. Iger, said in a statement.

Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive, said: “Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses. 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.”

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.

[robyrob]

well, that's the end of that then.

too bad they couldn't team up with Warner Brothers and shut down Diamond.

[Brian Damage]

oy that is horrible news

[waichingliu81]

as a fan of marvel comics, this is just sad news. and of all people, it had to be disney. god, they are like the google of the animation world. it makes me sick.

they are only doing this for the money- i see no other intention of theirs other than to line their wallets. to see marvel sell out and in this way too, is well, dissapointing coming from them.

and plus, i hadnt noticed that marvel were struggling of late. DC comics must be celebrating after hearing about this.

[waichingliu81]

too bad they couldn't team up with Warner Brothers and shut down Diamond.

i'd rather see marvel with warner bros than disney. instead, they had to side with the hannah montanas of this world instead.

of all the animation companies i've never been a disney fan, but i do like some of their cartoons. but really, now they have become too big for their boots.

[JamesG]

Does this mean Universal Studios will have to pay DISNEY to use the Spider-Man and Hulk attractions?

[Cactus Jack]

Disney acquires Marvel? I got it! The Avengers and The Xmen form a battle on Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, the entire cast of High School Musical, except Zac Efron cause all he has are the Batman nipple suits and that's not Marvel. Marvel is winning, then the Disney people start singing and the Marvel superheroes try to kill themsleves with their own powers.

[dawsongirl]

BOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Doodyville10019]

I heard about that and almost died. Well, that's the end of the Marvel universe as we know it :mad: Next thing you know Hanna Montana will be battling Spidey in the 3rd dimension - and WINNING!

[MrCleveland]

Here's the only reason why I would agree to this...Paperinik...The Duck Avenger...Donald Duck!...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Paperinik.jpg

Other than that...another reason to avoid Disney at all times!

[tv star collector]

I'm not really surprised. Warner Bros. has owned DC Comics since 1969. I'm only surprised it took so long. And I'm not sure it's entirely a bad thing. Just my opinion.

And, as someone noted on Jerry Beck's Cartoon Brew webpage, Disney
is not going to tamper with the content of Marvel Comics, as long as they're
making profits. It wouldn't make sense to spend $4 billion and make any
drastic changes when they're still making money.

But, truth be told, comic book sales today aren't what they used to be (and
haven't been since the dawn of the Internet). Hardly anyone buys those
paper things with staples in 'em anymore. The real source of income
for both Marvel and DC is in merchandise and movie deals. It has been that
way for years (for better or worse). Sad but that's just the way it is now.

[waichingliu81]

I'm not really surprised. Warner Bros. has owned DC Comics since the early
1980s. I'm only surprised it took so long. And I'm not sure it's entirely a bad
thing. Just my opinion.

i didn't know that warner owned DC. but we shall see how (bad) things develop as a result of this buyout from disney. i just think that they will still have a say with regards to the content and style of the characters, because either way, they are going to make a mockery out of spiderman, x-men etc.

[tv star collector]

Actually, Warner has owned DC Comics for forty years (since 1969). I just
edited my previous post. I didn't realize it was that long ago (although I did
know Warner produced the classic 1978 Superman movie). Warner
has also owned EC (publisher of Mad magazine) for some time now.