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August 31, 2009

Disney Buys Marvel

— Posted by John Campea

The future of the Marvel Superhero movies (once all current deals expire anyway) now fall under the house of the mouse. It was announced today that Disney has bought Marvel. The press release reads as follows:

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

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

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. 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.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.

Now… before getting too worried about Disney ruining everything that Marvel has accomplished… keep this in mind. Many were worried about the same thing when Disney bought Pixar, but the reality has been that Disney has allowed Pixar to function pretty independently and we can probably expect the same for Marvel as well.

Paramount still has the rights to distribute “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” “Captain America” and “The Avengers” as per their pre-existing agreement, but Disney will probably take over all distribution rights after that deal lapses.

So what do you think?

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  • mike

    the next kingdom hearts will be awesome,and i wonder who will make the animated movies now?

  • Jacob

    I believe the way it is going to work is all deals willstay in place however now Disney owns Marvel so 20th Century and sony etc will now have to pay Disney the licensing fees that they would have paid to Marvel. So Disney did this because of the money aspect let others distribute the product and Disney makes profit due to the licensing fees withou worrying about if the movie bombs at the box office.

  • Viper Shock

    What a joke. I hope they don’t put ears on the comics as a trademark.

  • Andrew

    Fuck Marvel.

    DC is where it’s at.

  • Monty
    • Kaneda979

      LOL, that’s awesome.

      Kind of makes me want an video game where all the classic Disney characters are classic X-Men.

      But just kind of.

  • War-Journalist

    Okay. Okay. I’ve gotten over the initial heart-breaking trauma. I heard Editor Quesada say the characters would be untouched, so I guess I’m okay. Marvel gets deeper pockets, and more exposure. Disney gets a new cash cow. The terror that looms before me is not what Disney might do to the characters in the comics, but rather what they’ll do with them by their own distribution (Super Hero Squad, anyone? Blech).

  • bernardg

    Somehow, i can envision that Elektra or Wade Wilson will cross swords with Jack Sparrows in What if… type flick

    • http://retaliators.wordpress.com/ Matt Keith

      Or have the venom or carnage symbiote attach itself to Jack Sparrow.

  • Maxwell

    As long as they still make pg-13 movies and have the marvel logo first, it doesen’t matter what they they in other entertainment areas

  • http://retaliators.wordpress.com/ AARON

    Good move for Marvel, bad for Disney

  • SlashBeast

    I demand a Mickey Mouse cameo in The Avenger’s movie.

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