Disney celebrates 100th anniversary

TheStreet delves into Disney's transformation, tracing its journey from its inception in 1923 to the modern day company.

Transcript

00:00 Walt and his brother Roy moved out to California and founded what became Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in October of

00:07 1923. They started their business in the back of a small office in Los Angeles where they were paid $10 a month. From

00:14 1923 to 1927

00:17 Disney Brothers produced a series of short live-action animated films called the Alice Comedies.

00:23 They changed the company name to the Walt Disney Studio in

00:27 1926. In 1928 they released Steamboat Willie, widely recognized as problematic,

00:32 but was also the first appearance of the iconic Mickey Mouse and was the first synchronized sound

00:38 cartoon. The Walt Disney Studio changed its name to Walt Disney Productions LTD in

00:44 1929. Disney began creating its first feature film in

00:47 1934, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Its production was considered a reckless undertaking, too expensive, too complicated, and too long.

00:56 Three years later in

00:58 1937 it was a wildly successful release and its characters are still recognized today.

01:03 With the profits from Snow White,

01:05 Disney bought 51 acres in Burbank and began designing a studio for making animated feature films. In

01:11 1940 the studio officially moved to the new location and became a publicly traded company. In

01:17 1944 Disney found itself short on funds and re-released Snow White,

01:23 beginning a pattern of re-releasing their successful films. Disney then made a programming deal with American Broadcasting

01:29 Paramount Theatres to fund Disneyland in 1953 and the park opened two years later in 1955.

01:35 Disney IPOs at a share price of $13.88 on the New York Stock Exchange in

01:41 1957. Walt Disney died in

01:44 1966 and from that point until

01:47 1987 the company was considered to be in a dark period of decline. In

01:52 1967 construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The experimental prototype community of tomorrow known as Epcot

02:01 opened in Walt Disney World Resort in 1982. The following year the Disney Channel began production and

02:08 Tokyo Disneyland opened. In

02:10 1986 finally the company name was changed to its modern iteration, The Walt Disney Company.

02:16 This is where things seemed to change around for the company and began the current era of Disney acquisitions.

02:22 Disney entered a 10-year distribution partnership with Pixar Animation Studios in

02:27 1997, resulting in the purchase of Pixar in 2006 for $7 billion. Disney bought Marvel in

02:33 2009 for a total of $4 billion. In

02:36 2010 Disney sold off assets including Power Rangers for $100 million and Miramax Films for

02:44 $160 million. Disney acquired Lucasfilm from George Lucas

02:47 including Star Wars and Indiana Jones for $4 billion in 2012. In

02:52 2013 Disney released Frozen which became the highest grossing animated feature film of all time.

02:59 Disney announced a $60 billion investment in its parks in 2023,

03:04 double what it spent the prior decade. And

03:07 finally as of 2023

03:09 Disney has expanded to own and operate

03:14 ABC, ESPN,

03:16 Pixar,

03:17 Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm.

03:20 Thank you for watching!

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