Walt Disney Productions
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For other uses, see Disney (disambiguation).
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The Walt Disney Company
Type Public (NYSE: DIS)
Founded Hollywood, California, USA[1]
(October 16, 1923)
Founder Walt and Roy Disney
Headquarters The Walt Disney Studios
Burbank, California, USA
Key people John E. Pepper, Jr. (Chairman)
Robert Iger (CEO) & (President)
Anne Sweeney (President, Disney-ABC Television Group and Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks)
Industry Media and Entertainment
Revenue ▲ US$ 35.51 Billion (2007)[2]
Operating income ▲ US$ 7.827 billion (2007)[2]
Net income ▲ US$ 3.832 billion (2007)[2]
Employees 137,000 (2008)
Divisions ABC, ABC Family, ABC Kids, Walt Disney Distribution, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Disney Channel, ESPN, Jetix, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Walt Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Records, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, ABC Studios, Playhouse Disney, Disney Consumer Products, Pixar, Soapnet, Disney Interactive Studios, Muppets Holding Company, Disney Store, Toon Disney, New Horizon Interactive, and Hollywood Records
Website Disney.com

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Founded on October 6, 1924 by the brothers Walt and Roy Disney as an animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner of eleven theme parks and several television networks, including ABC and ESPN. Disney's corporate headquarters and primary production facilities are located at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Contents

Subsidiaries

Consumer products

Disney parks

The Walt Disney Company owns and operates a series of resorts around the world including the Walt Disney World Resort, the largest vacation resort in the world. These resorts are managed by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division. These are:

Timeline

Founding and early success (1922–1966)

Year Notable Business Events Notable Releases
(See List of Disney feature films for complete film listing)
1923
  • Walt Disney signed a contract with M.J. Winkler to produce a series of Alice Comedies, beginning the Disney company under its original name Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, with brothers Walt and Roy Disney, as equal partners.[1]
1924
  • First Alice comedy, Alice's Day at Sea, released.
1926
  • Company changed name to The Walt Disney Studio shortly after moving into the new studio on Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district.
1927
1928
  • Walt loses the Oswald series contract
1929
  • On December 16, the original partnership formed in 1923 is replaced by Walt Disney Productions, Ltd. Three other companies, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company, are also formed.
1932
1937
1938
  • On September 29, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company are merged into Walt Disney Productions.
1940
  • Studio moves to Burbank, California
1941
1942
1943
1944
  • The company is short on money; a theatrical re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs generates much-needed revenue and begins a reissue pattern for the animated feature films.
1945
1947
  • Signs their first independent studio, The Byrnest Studio in Orlandocitation needed
1949
  • The studio begins production on its first all-live action feature, Treasure Island
  • The True-Life Adventures series begins
1950
1951 Alice in Wonderland
1952
1953
1954
1955
1957
  • Walt Disney Productions goes public
1959
1961
1964
1966

After Walt Disney's death (1967-1983)

Year Notable Business Events Notable Releases
(See List of Disney feature films for complete film listing)
1967
1968
  • The name Walt Disney Productions changed to Walt Disney Enterprises
1970
1971
1973
1977
  • Walt's nephew Roy Edward Disney, resigns from the company citing a decline in overall product quality and issues with management.
1980
1981
  • Plans for a cable network are announced.
  • Dumbo is Disney's first animated feature released on video.
1982
1983

Eisner era (1984–2004)

Iger era (2005–Present)

Year Notable Business Events Notable Releases
(See List of Disney feature films for complete listing)
2005
  • Jetix is distributed worldwide in Europe and Latin America in channels of their own rights. Disney agrees to sell the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to Henry Samueli of Broadcom for reported $75 million dollars; Samueli promptly changes team name to Anaheim Ducks along with colors, stating he wants to "de-Disney" the club. On July 8, Roy E. Disney rejoins the company as a consultant with the title of Director Emeritus. Disneyland celebrates its 50th anniversary on July 17. Hong Kong Disneyland officially opens on September 12. Bob Iger replaces Michael Eisner as CEO.
2006
2007
2008

Senior Executive Management

Current board of directors

Current division heads

Chairmen of the Board

Vice Chairman of the Board

CEOs

COOs

The formal position of Chief Operating Officer was not created until Wells and Eisner came in with Eisner taking the titles of Chairman and CEO and Wells, President and COO.

Criticism

  • Disney has on several occasions prompted action from religious groups such as the Catholic League, due to purported insensitive broadcasting, and the release of films, which the league and others found offensive. Disney has faced boycotts from Baptist groups,clarify "Assemblies of God", and Catholic groupsclarify in the past. (boycott 1;boycott 2;boycott 3)
  • The worldwide commercial success of the Disney brand is viewed by some as detrimental to cultural diversity (see Disneyfication).
  • Disney is one among several American companies lobbying for more stringent enforcement of intellectual property around the world and continued copyright term extensions, posing a perceived threat to the existence of the public domain; see Copyright Term Extension Act.
  • Disney has been accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories that produce their merchandise.[6][7]
  • Disney has been criticized by animal welfare groups for its import, use and frequent deaths of wild animals at its Animal Kingdom theme park[8] as well as for using purebred dogs in movies such as 101 Dalmatians, which these groups claim leads to creating an artificial demand for these purebred dogs many of whom are later abandoned or surrendered to shelters or rescue groups.[9]
  • Disney has been criticized in the Abaco Islands for their role in a dredging operation on Great Guana Cay that is said to be responsible for a wide array of environmental problems, including widespread death of coral communities. [1]
  • Disney films are also notable for their ongoing lack of cultural understanding when portraying non-white ethnic groups on screen. They have been criticised for their liberal use of stereotyping, in both appearance and dialogue. [10]

Allegation of subliminal messages

In 1995, Anna Rouge brought the allegation of the letters S-E-X written in the dust within The Lion King to the attention of a conservative anti-abortion group known as the American Life League (ALL).[11][12] ALL spokesperson Tracey Casale weighed in on the issue and said "The Walt Disney Company claims to be a provider of wholesome family entertainment, but the message in The Lion King' is not clean, it is not wholesome, and it is not fun"[12] ALL made these allegations public, which led to an article by the Associated Press. ALL eventually led a protest of The Walt Disney Company, demanding that the offending movies be recalled from store shelves, and the movies should then be fixed to exclude any messages that exist in them. ALL also demanded a formal and public apology from the Disney.[11] Eugene Emery of the Skeptical Enquirer, called this media attention the "subliminal silly season", lampooning the whole idea and stating:

"the subliminal message issue is not going away as long as reporters and editors don't do their homework and are willing to let their own and the public's primal fear of magical messages override good editorial judgment."[13]

This allegation, however, was later claimed to be false. Tom Sito, a Disney animator and a writer for The Lion King, said that the letters written in the dust were actually "S.F.X", intended to be an easter egg signature from the animation department, and that the controversy that followed was entirely unintentional.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies - Company History
  2. ^ a b c "2007 Annual Report".
  3. ^ Animation Movies
  4. ^ Southern Baptists drop Disney boycott
  5. ^ New York Times Article regarding Stanford Litvack
  6. ^ http://www.somo.nl/monitoring/reports/hkcic01-02.htm
  7. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2001/06/18/sweatshops_010618.html source
  8. ^ Caution: Live Animals - TIME
  9. ^ CNN.com - 'Nemo' fans net fish warning - Jun. 30, 2003
  10. ^ The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters
  11. ^ a b Ostman, Ronald E. (1996). "Disney and Its Conservative Critics: Images versus Realities". Journal of Popular Film and Television 24 (2): 82. 
  12. ^ a b Smith, Leef (September 1, 1995), "Disney's Loin King? Group Sees Dirt in the Dust", Washington Post, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/flionking.htm> 
  13. ^ Emery, Jr., C. Eugene (March-April, 1996), "When the media miss real messages in subliminal stories", Skeptical Inquirer, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_n2_v20/ai_18158438> 
  14. ^ Pinsky, Mark (2004). The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust, 247. ISBN 0664225918. 

Additional sources

See also

Books

  • Walt Disney: An American Original, Bob Thomas, 1976, revised 1994
  • The Story of Walt Disney, Diane Disney Miller & Pete Martin, 1957
  • Cult of the Mouse: Can We Stop Corporate Greed from Killing Innovation in America?, Henry M. Caroselli, 2004, Ten Speed Press, ISBN
  • The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney, Richard Schickel, 1968, revised 1997, ISBN
  • The Man Behind the Magic; the Story of Walt Disney, Katherine & Richard Greene, 1991, revised 1998
  • Disney: The Mouse Betrayed, Peter Schweizer
  • Storming the Magic Kingdom: Wall Street, the raiders, and the battle for Disney, John Taylor, 1987, [2], [3], ISBN ISBN
  • Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire, Bob Thomas, 1998, ISBN
  • How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic ISBN 0-88477-023-0 (Anti-Disney Marxist Critique) Ariel Dorfman, Armand Mattelart, David Kunzle
  • Donald Duck Joins Up; the Walt Disney Studio During World War II, Richard Shale, 1982
  • The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip, Kim Masters, 20, ISBN
  • Building a Dream; The Art of Disney Architecture, Beth Dunlop, 1996
  • Disneyization of Society: Alan Bryman, 2004, ISBN
  • DisneyWar, James B. Stewart, 2005, ISBN, ISBN
  • Married to the Mouse, Richard E. Foglesorg, Yale University Press.
  • Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records, Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar, 2006, ISBN
  • Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland, David Koenig, 1994, revised 2005, ISBN 0-9640605-4-X
  • Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney, Katherine Greene & Richard Greene, 2001, ISBN
  • Team Rodent, Carl Hiassen.
  • Disneyana: Walt Disney Collectibles, Cecil Munsey, 1974

External links

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Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Disneyland Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort
Disneyland Resort Paris
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Disney Cruise Line
Other
The Walt Disney Company · Walt Disney Imagineering · Walt Disney Creative Entertainment
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