Businesses That Walt Disney Company Owns
Susan Kelly Updated on Jul 22, 2022

A household name in the world of family entertainment and a major global media corporation, Walt Disney (DIS) has grown to be. Originally known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt and Roy Disney founded it in 1923. Today, the corporation is worth $335.0 billion on the stock market. This year, it had a net loss of $2.5 billion on sales of $65.4 billion for its 2020 fiscal year (FY).


Currently, the firm is divided into the following divisions: Media Networks; Parks, Experiences, and Products; Studio Entertainment; and Direct-to-Consumer and International, which Bob Chapek will manage once Robert Iger stepped down as CEO in February 2020.


Who Owns Disney?


The Walt Disney Company is one of the world's largest corporations and a global powerhouse. There isn't a corner where you can turn without seeing anything from the Disney universe. But it's almost as though they've managed to sneak through the net. "What does Disney own?" is a question we're frequently asked. Is it possible that the answer is almost everything? However, who owns Disney is the most important question of all time. This page answers the question, "What does Disney own?"." In addition, which owns Disney, and why?


What Is Owned By Disney?



We'll take a look at Disney's holdings in this section. We are asked this a lot. For transparency, we have listed the corporations Disney presently owns and the percentage ownership it holds in each of them.


  • ABC
  • ESPN (80% stake)
  • Touchstone Pictures
  • Marvel
  • Lucasfilm


There is a sense that Disney controls everything, thanks to the numerous film properties they have under its belt and the acquisition of 20th Century Fox in recent years. In addition, this has bolstered their ever-expanding collection of films and companies, including the Marvel and Star Wars properties.


Who Is The Current CEO of Disney?



Bob Chapek is the current CEO of Disney. From 2005 until 2020, Bob Iger served as Disney's CEO; he currently serves as the company's Executive Chairman. As a result of Bob Iger's taking over as CEO, Disney now controls a far larger number of brands, franchises, and enterprises. To build Disney's portfolio to its current size, Bob spent a great deal of time purchasing other companies.


What's Disney's Workforce?


Almost 210,000 people work for Disney; that's quite a feat for a pair of brothers who had a great idea! If the recent purchases and upcoming initiatives are indications, this will only grow in importance for Disney.


Businesses That Disney Owns and Operates


21st Century Fox (TFCF Corp.)


Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, News Corp., separated in 2013, creating 21st Century Fox, a media and entertainment conglomerate. The entertainment section, which included the 20th Century Fox studio, was split out into a distinct corporation, 21st Century Fox, while the publishing arm of the firm kept the name News Corp.


TFCF Corp., the entertainment division, was rebranded after Disney's $71 billion acquisition in 2019, while Fox Corp., the news division, was split out as a new, publicly traded corporation in 2019. Disney's acquisition of the 20th Century Fox film and television studios, cable networks FX and National Geographic, foreign television enterprise Star, and a 30 percent investment in Hulu LLC resulted in a trove of valued worldwide properties.


Capital Cities/ABC


1985 saw the formation of Capital Cities/ABC following the $3.5 billion acquisition of American Broadcasting Company by Capital Cities Communications, a media conglomerate. As the second-largest corporate acquisition in history, Disney's 1995 purchase of the firm brought together two of the world's most prominent media and family entertainment organizations. With the help of a joint venture with three regional phone companies, Disney became the first media business to have a significant presence in all four major distribution networks for filmed entertainment.


Pixar Animation Studios


The computer animation branch of Lucasfilm, which had achieved significant advances in the perfection of animated film technology, was purchased by Steve Jobs, the famed co-founder of Apple, in 1986. During Jobs' tenure, Pixar rose to prominence as one of the world's leading studios for the creation of animated films. "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo" are two of the most popular computer-animated feature films ever made. After purchasing Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006, Disney rose to the top of the animated picture industry.


Lucasfilm Ltd.


George Lucas created Lucasfilm in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971. Special effects, sound, and computer animation have all been developed at the firm, which is most known for its work on the blockbuster "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" films. As a result, Disney could take advantage of those brands' distribution rights when it purchased the firm in 2012. Theme parks and resorts like Disney's "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" at Disneyland and Walt Disney World have also capitalized on these brands.

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