Disney to acquire Marvel for $4 billion
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Publisher of Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men comics agrees to buyout offer from multimedia giant behind Mickey Mouse, ABC, Miramax, and more.
The Magic Kingdom will soon see an influx of immigrants, as The Walt Disney Company today announced an agreement with Marvel Entertainment to acquire the comic publisher and its stable of over 5,000 characters. The deal is valued at $4 billion in cash and Disney stock.
Both companies are established players in the gaming world. Disney Interactive Studios has been publishing game adaptations for Disney films like G-Force and Hannah Montana: The Movie and is also branching out into original properties like the upcoming racer Split/Second.
Marvel doesn't publish games itself, but it frequently licenses out its characters to a wide variety of publishers. Currently, the comics company is providing characters for new and upcoming titles from Activision (Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2), Capcom (Marvel vs. Capcom 2), Sega (Iron Man 2), and THQ (Marvel Super Hero Squad).
In a conference call with analysts today, Disney executives fielded questions about their plans for the acquisition. And while they mentioned the need to respect deals that were already in place, there were hints that Disney might look to replace Marvel's licensing partners in the future, where appropriate.
"On the video games front, [Marvel has] some what we see as smart licensing agreements with some of the best video game manufacturers in the business," Disney president and CEO Bob Iger said. "And while we have been steadily moving in a vertically integrated direction, we don't rule out the possibility of a blend of licensed games, as well as self-produced and self-distributed. And what is nice about this is that as some of these deals near expiration, we have the luxury of at that time considering what is best for the company both from a financial perspective, from a quality perspective, and an exposure perspective."
Both companies' boards of directors have signed off on the acquisition. However, it still must be approved by Marvel shareholders and government regulators.
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
1631 comments
Ultimate Alliance 3 is coming out soon. You'll see X-men, F4, Spiderman, Iron man,Captain America, Hulk , Thor, Apocalypse and many more teaming up to fight against the evil Planet Conquerer Micky and his team of evil doers Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Minnie, Pluto, Alladin, Cinderalla, Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), Bambi,The little Mermaid, Bolt, Nemo,Tarzan. Get it today
Disney also did films like the sixth sense and TV shows Like Lost cannot wait for kingdom hearts 3 symboite heartless vs Spidersora also Ironduck and the Incredible Goof
I wonder what will happen to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios Florida? Are they going to be taking a chunk out of the market there? Like Disney is even worried about it but more money is more money. Greedy Bastards!
why do I suddenly get an idea that spiderman, the hulk, cpt america will come out at kingdom hearts 3... Disney acquires marvel... and Square has a joint venture work with Disney on the franchise of kingdom hearts... so as a result... Oh noes... :S
Probably the worst thing I can imagine for this merger is Mickey Mouse making an appearance on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 as a secret character.
The funny thing is that Walt Disney himself was a pioneer. Snow White came out in the '30's...very edgy for its time, and still better drawing than I see today.
wow, mister sinister and winnie the pooh in the same room? Some christmas party thats gonna be...
also: I think everyone's forgetting that Disney isn't exclusively G stuff. anyone remember Pirates of the Carribean? just because Disney is Marvel's new parent company, I doubt ANYTHING will change.
if I had known marvel was only worth 4million, I might have tried to put together some money to buy it :( haha.
Personally I feel that disney purchasing Marvel will turn out to be one of the very worst things that could have happened to their fan following. It will limit the freedom of their artists and writers causing their publications to lose any quality they have left and the films will certainly suffer from an ever pounding of political correctness that any true inspiration will disapear. To me, Disney has become a dictatorship over the years and just another huge corporation attempting monopolies by acquiring as much of the media as possible to sway the American public and the world at large into "their way of thinking". Walt Disney's probably turned over so many times in his grave that he's burrowed through the bottom of his casket and currently resides in China.
Great... Just Great... Now the new Iron Man movie's soundtrack will consist of crap like Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. I think this is the worst kind of acquisition in the history of man. I think I going to puke now.
Disney owns Miramax which made Kill Bill. That was a hard R so i really doubt Disney will screw with Marvel movies. as for games idk but i think the same principle will apply. not really a big deal.
Next fighting game ladies and gentleman, Mortal Kombat special, Disney Vs Marvel! Play as a mickey mouse and shoot fireballs into the incredible hulks wang. Punch Donald duck in the face as Spiderman. Rip off the Lil mermaids fins and bang her with wolverine. Get it before its gone folks! Disney vs Marvel, fun for the whole family!
Disney hasn't had a good original idea since Walt kicked the bucket decades ago. It survives by buying and cannibalizing other peoples ideas. Marvel is just the latest to be ground up into that vast conglomerate. Hope they don't grind up the characters and make them too pretty and tame. Take away the edge Disney... and nobody will want to watch them!
Most comic to movie films are PG-13, I'm dreading what disney will do to them, possibly PG.........Ridiculous!
With this, and SquareEnix buy of Eidos, perhaps we will see Lara Croft and Spiderman together in a future Kingdom Hearts game :P
Disney and Marvel, dosent seem to mix kinda like Mickey Mouse and Spider-man, oh wait....
I wonder if this will effect Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Theme Park because they have the Marvel Superhero Island. Which is right next to Disney in Orlando.
Project Mickey Mouse head-shaped Death Star is making good progress. In other news Darth Disney just killed Marvel.
IMO, Disney bought them out to have something to attract an older crowd. I wouldn't be super surprised if nothing changed with Marvel. I would bet that the biggest change would be Disney incorporating Marvel into their theme parks. A wise move by Disney. Just my $.02.
Think of Kingdom Hearts. Replace all disney characters with marvel characters. Final Fantasy plus marvel. It seems like the only way disney would be able to do something right without ruining it.
NOOOOO!!!! DISNEY IS GOnNA KILL MARVEL AND INJECT IT WITH HANNA MONTANA AND JONAS BROTHERS AD SPACE D:!!
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