Early History
Walt Disney produces Steamboat Willie on his own
Corporate Responsibility
Robert A. Iger: While there's always room for improvement,
we seek to be a good corporate citizen and hope to be as admired for the way we do business as for the quality of the family entertainment we create.
Focus Area Children & Family Content & Products Environment Objective
We strive to support the well-being of children and families. We seek to create content and products responsibly. We work to embed good environmental stewardship in the Companys decision-making process from start to finish. We aim to be a positive and productive member of the Communities in which we live and work. We strive to foster safe, inclusive and respectful workplaces Wherever we do business and wherever our products are made.
Community
Workplaces
SONY, 17%
VIACOM, 16%
VIACOM, 15%
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Diversification of their products and services-produces balance revenue streams:
Revenues FY 2009 Media Networks Park and Resorts Studio Entertainment Consumer Products Interactive Media Total (in Millions) $16,209 $10,667 $6,136 $2,425 $712 $36,149 % of Revenue 45% 30% 17% 7% 2%
Well known characters Widespread cable networks Strong brand name-ranked 9th in top 100 brand names
SWOT Analysis
Weaknesses
Weak performance of studio entertainment
Produced failures such as Fantasia 2000, 102 Dalmatians and Treasure Plant
SWOT Analysis
Opportunities
Acquisitions to strengthen their position in the market
Jetix Europe-has programming geared toward kids 6-14, broadcasts in 58 countries Club Penguin-adds to online assets
Improving presence in emerging Indian and Asian markets Agreement with DreamWorks to distribute six films a year Positive market outlook for the global media
SWOT Analysis
Threats
Intense competition in each business line: Media- CBS and Fox Broadcasting Parks and Resorts-Xanterra Parks and Resorts Piracy in the entertainment industry Regulatory risks- must comply with FCC regulations, which can hinder future cash flow "Lagging Economy New technology compromises ability to protect intellectual property
Academy Awards
Walt Disney holds the record for both the most Academy Award nominations (59) and the number of Oscars awarded (22). He also earned four honorary Oscars. His last competitive Academy Award was posthumous. 1932: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Flowers and Trees (1932) 1932: Honorary Award for creation of Mickey Mouse. 1934: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Three Little Pigs (1933) 1935: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: The Tortoise and the Hare (1934) 1936: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Three Orphan Kittens (1935) 1937: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: The Country Cousin (1936) 1938: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: The Old Mill (1937) 1939: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Ferdinand the Bull (1938) 1939: Honorary Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) The citation read, "For Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field." (The award, unique in the history of the Oscars, is one large statuette and seven miniature statuettes.) 1940: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Ugly Duckling (1939)
Walt Disney (DIS) News Corporation (NSWA) Time Warner Inc. (TWX) Industry
Market Capitalization Beta 71.45B 1.21 40.43B 1.58 38.05B 1.31 2.87B
5.29% 36.29B
4.74% 30.93B
3.54% 25.78B
Conclusion
As the company grew, Disney diversified production beyond cartoons and animated movies. Treasure Island, released in 1950, was the studios first live-action film, and the company formed Buena Vista Distribution a few years later. With its own in-house distribution company, Disney could continue to churn out movies while significantly saving on distribution costs. Live-action hits such as Swiss Family Robinson in 1960 and Mary Poppins in 1964 followed. Disney's TV debut came around the same time as Treasure Island, with the special One Hour in Wonderland. The popular Mickey Mouse Club debuted as a TV series in 1955. But it was another TV program that began in 1954, called Disneyland, that showed Walt Disney had even bigger plans for the company. A few years earlier, Disney established WED Enterprises as a separate company and began drawing up plans for Disneyland, a giant theme park. Because the park was technically part of a separate corporation, Disney was able to develop it in secret, worrying about how shareholders would react. Disneyland opened in 1955 as a theme park unlike any other the world had seen.
Disney employed a unique strategy to make the theme park quickly successful. He solicited several corporate sponsorships to subsidize costs, and outsourced food and merchandise within the park. Once Disneyland was earning revenue, the company repurchased those rights and kept the revenue internally. Plans for a second park, which ultimately became Walt Disney World, began with the acquisition of land in Florida in the 1960s. This second park would contain Disney's vision of what the future urban community would look like; he called it the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", now commonly known as Epcot Center.