The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles in the summer of 1923, and distributor Margaret Winkler agreed to back his Alice Comedies series. On October 16, 1923, Walt and his brother Roy O. Disney signed their first contract and named the business the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.⁠[1]

With the 1928 release of Steamboat Willie, the world was introduced to Mickey Mouse.⁠[2]

Walt Disney Productions was the company’s corporate name until 1986. D23 dates the company’s beginning to October 16, 1923, when Walt Disney signed his first contract to produce the Alice Comedies. On December 16, 1929, the company was incorporated, taking over assets previously held by the partnership of Walt and Roy Disney.⁠[3]

The animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a smash hit when it debuted just before Christmas 1937.⁠[2]

In 1940, the company issued over-the-counter stock as Walt Disney Productions.⁠[4]

In 1954, Walt Disney agreed to produce a regular television series for ABCABCABC (American Broadcasting Company) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It grew out of NBC’s Blue radio network, took its name after becoming independent in 1943, developed into a national television network after merging with United Paramount Theatres in 1953, was acquired by Capital Cities in 1985, and has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996. With CBS and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks, and it is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry on condition that ABC invest in Disneyland; ABC invested $500,000, guaranteed $4.5 million in loans and became a one-third owner of the park.⁠[5]

Disneyland opened in California on July 17, 1955.⁠[6]

On November 12, 1957, Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry co-led Disney’s initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange at a share price of $13.88.⁠[4]

Following the success of Disneyland in California, the company decided to build a second park. Walt Disney World opened to the public on October 1, 1971, with a single park, Magic Kingdom, and two resort hotels.⁠[6]

On February 6, 1986, the corporate name changed from Walt Disney Productions to The Walt Disney Company.⁠[7]

On July 31, 1995, Disney and Capital Cities/ABC announced a $19 billion merger, completed on February 9, 1996, which gave Disney ABC and a stake in ESPN.⁠[5]

On March 13, 2005, the board unanimously elected Robert A. Iger, president and chief operating officer since January 2000, as chief executive officer effective September 30, 2005, succeeding Michael D. Eisner.⁠[8]

On January 24, 2006, Disney announced an all-stock acquisition of Pixar at 2.3 Disney shares per PixarPixarPixar Animation Studios is a computer animation film studio in Emeryville, California, spun off from Lucasfilm’s Computer Division in 1986; it released the first computer-animated feature, Toy Story, in 1995, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company since 2006, and developed technologies including RenderMan and Universal Scene Description.Open the full entry share, a transaction value of $7.4 billion based on Pixar’s fully diluted shares, or $6.3 billion net of Pixar’s cash of just over $1 billion.⁠[9]

Disney completed the acquisition on May 5, 2006. Former Pixar chairman and CEO Steve JobsSteve JobsSteve Jobs (1955–2011) was a technology entrepreneur, Apple co-founder, NeXT founder, and investor and former CEO of Pixar. His career spanned personal computing, digital music, smartphones and animated films, with an emphasis on product design, user experience and multidisciplinary teams.Open the full entry joined Disney’s board; former Pixar president Ed CatmullEd CatmullEd Catmull is an American computer scientist, a pioneer of computer graphics, and a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. He devised foundational methods including the display of curved surfaces, texture mapping, and Z-buffering, and took part in developing the rendering software RenderMan; Pixar released the first fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, in 1995. After Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, he led both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios until stepping down at the end of 2018, and he received the 2019 Turing Award.Open the full entry took charge of the combined Pixar and Disney animation studios, and former Pixar executive vice president John Lasseter became chief creative officer of the animation studios.⁠[10]

On December 31, 2009, Disney completed its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment; Marvel shareholders received $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.7452 Disney shares for each Marvel share. Marvel’s library includes over 5,000 characters featured in a variety of media over 70 years.⁠[11]

On October 30, 2012, Disney announced a $4.05 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm, wholly owned by George Lucas, paying about half in cash; Kathleen Kennedy would become its president.⁠[12]

Shanghai Disney Resort, a joint investment of The Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group, opened on June 16, 2016. Shendi holds 57 percent of the two owner companies and Disney the remaining 43 percent, while Disney holds 70 percent of the management company and Shendi 30 percent.⁠[13]

Disney first bid for 21st Century Fox’s assets in December 2017. On June 20, 2018, seeking to top ComcastComcastComcast Corporation is an American media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia. It began in 1963 when Ralph J. Roberts bought a small cable television operator in Tupelo, Mississippi, and its businesses include Xfinity, Comcast Business, NBCUniversal, Sky, and Peacock. The company completed the spin-off of Versant Media in January 2026 and in June of that year announced plans to separate NBCUniversal and Sky into an independent public company, expected to take about a year.Open the full entry’s $65 billion offer, Disney raised its bid to $71.3 billion, or $38 a share, split equally between cash and stock and $10 a share above its first bid.⁠[14]

The transaction closed on March 20, 2019, at an aggregate implied value of approximately $71 billion, including $35.7 billion in cash. In a holding-company reorganization, TWDC Holdco 613 Corp. took the name The Walt Disney Company and became the successor issuer, the former Disney was renamed TWDC Enterprises 18 Corp., and the stock continued to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DIS.⁠[15]

Disney thereby acquired film and television studios including 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures, networks including FX, National Geographic, Fox Networks Group International and Star India, Fox’s stake in HuluHuluHulu is a U.S. subscription streaming service offering series, films and original programming from the major television networks and studios, along with Hulu + Live TV, which includes live channels. It was founded in 2007 as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and News Corporation and opened to the public in March 2008; after a series of ownership changes, The Walt Disney Company took operational control in 2019 and full ownership in 2025, and is integrating Hulu into Disney+ as Disney’s global general entertainment brand.Open the full entry and a 50 percent stake in Endemol Shine Group. Under a U.S. Department of Justice consent decree, Disney was to divest Fox’s regional sports networks. Fox’s news, sports and broadcast businesses remained with Fox Corporation.⁠[16]

S&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is a global index provider that compiles and licenses benchmark indices including the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was formed in 2012 by combining McGraw-Hill’s S&P index business with the Dow Jones Indexes business held by a joint venture of CME Group and Dow Jones, and it is now the index business division of S&P Global, which holds about 73% of the interest.Open the full entry treated Fox Corp. as the surviving entity of Twenty-First Century Fox and had it replace Twenty-First Century Fox prior to the open of trading on March 20, 2019. The announcement described The Walt Disney Co. as an S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry and S&P 100 constituent.⁠[17]

On August 19, 2019, Disney confirmed that its streaming service Disney+ would launch in Canada and the Netherlands in tandem with the U.S. on November 12, followed by Australia and New Zealand on November 19.⁠[18]

Iger served as CEO from 2005 to 2020, also serving as chairman over that period. After stepping aside in 2020, he served as executive chairman and chairman of the board until 2021.⁠[19]

In November 2022, the board fired Iger’s handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, after a turbulent tenure that lasted less than three years.⁠[20]

Iger was appointed CEO again, effective immediately, agreeing to serve for two years and to work closely with the board in developing a successor to lead the company at the completion of his term.⁠[21]

In April 2022, the Florida legislature passed a bill to dissolve, effective June 1, 2023, the Reedy Creek special district that allows Disney to act as its own government there. Opponents saw it as driven by Governor Ron DeSantis’s feud with Disney over its criticism of HB 1557, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.⁠[22]

On April 26, 2023, Disney sued DeSantis in Florida federal court, alleging that the legislation was “enacted in retaliation for Disney’s political speech in violation of the First Amendment.”⁠[23]

On January 31, 2024, federal judge Allen Winsor dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Disney lacked standing because its claimed injuries from the board appointments were “in the past.” Disney filed an appeal the next day.⁠[24]

In 2024, activist investor Nelson Peltz focused on the board’s failure to name a lasting successor in his unsuccessful campaign to gain board seats. In October, Disney said it would name Iger’s successor in early 2026.⁠[20]

James P. Gorman became Disney’s chair on January 2, 2025.⁠[25]

On December 14, 2024, ABC News settled a defamation suit brought by Donald Trump, agreeing to give $15 million to a presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Trump, pay $1 million in attorney fees and express regret over anchor George Stephanopoulos’s March 2024 statement that Trump had been found liable for rape.⁠[26]

As of fiscal year end 2025, Disney employed approximately 231,000 people. ESPN is generally owned 80 percent by the company, Disney+ had approximately 132 million paid subscribers, and the company had completed the acquisition of Hulu.⁠[27]

For fiscal 2025, ended September 27, 2025, Disney’s revenues were $94.4 billion, up 3 percent from $91.4 billion; net income attributable to Disney was $12.4 billion, compared with $5.0 billion, and diluted earnings per share were $6.85, compared with $2.72.⁠[28]

On February 3, 2026, Disney announced the board’s unanimous election of Josh D’Amaro as CEO, succeeding Iger at the March 18 annual meeting; Iger would retire at year-end.⁠[29]

Dana Walden became president and chief creative officer.⁠[19]

Iger stepped down as CEO of The Walt Disney Company in March 2026 and later became a co-owner of the Los Angeles LakersLos Angeles LakersThe Los Angeles Lakers are an NBA basketball team based at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The club originated in Minneapolis in 1947.Open the full entry.⁠[30]