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Stephen of Borg

Disney Is Buying Marvel Comics

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LOS ANGELES – 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 see Marvel'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 Marvel shareholders.

 

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.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_...l_entertainment

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Wow...interesting. What about DC, though? Marvel and DC were owned by the same company.

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Huh? I had no idea the two giants of comics were owned by the same outfit. Then again, I've been out of the comics scene, since the late 70's. Marvel seemed to be doing just fine on its own, certainly with the recent smash successes of Spidey and 'ol Shell-Head' as oldtime comics fans as I was recall Stan and co. calling him....those were fun years, to be sure.I guess this will boost both corps, but it is seemingly an awfully big conglomerate if it passes-but it'd hardly be the first such mega-entertainment- merger.....something the Kingpin would like to grab! Heh heh heh...

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I guess it could be a good thing since it will probably mean more animated TV series based on the characters. I guess this means that Nickelodeon will have to pay Disney money since they have Wolverine and the X-Men and a new Iron Man cartoon on their Nicktoons Network. Could this mean cancellation for those two series or possibly it moving to another network? I bet nothing will change, but I think it could be possible

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I would not mind seeing, as was before, Marvel heroes on the regular network Saturday lineup, which was what had me tuning in mainly that time of the week, when there was the X-Men, and I watched Spidey, up until spring. There seems to be such a limited run with superheroes on the regular networks:I know that producing an animated series takes a lot of time, and shows like X-Men require a larger cast, but I hope Spidey will return with all-new eps. Too bad cable seems to have things like Justice League, etc. An Avengers series would be terrific-and a new Fantastic Four.AND another old fave, the Silver Surfer, which would combine a great hero with sf elements...

Edited by Voyager recruit

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