Story companiesWaltDisneyCompany(Walt Disney) began as a small animation studio founded by the Disney brothers - Walter and Roy Disney. This happened in the fall of 1923.

Today, the Walt Disney Company is a conglomerate company that is engaged not only in filming and producing cartoons and family films. Walt Disney's assets include a large list of areas from the entertainment industry (Entertainment):

• a network of its own theme parks (in the USA, France, China),
• water parks,
• television and radio broadcasting companies,
• own cable networks.

Despite the company's fameWaltDisney, as a producer of cartoons and films as part of its own and acquired studios, the largest part of its net profit (more than 40%) at the end of 2015 came from cable television networks.

Start

The Disney brothers were people different directions: Walt had a creative nature, and Roy Oliver managed to make their joint venture financially stable.

October 16, 1923 the brothers create their own company, Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, in Hollywood. Later the company was renamed “The Walt Disney Studio” and then “The Walt Disney Company”. The last name remains with the company to this day.

First film

Disney's first film was released in early March 1924. "Alice's Day at Sea". The character is based on the heroine of Lewis Carroll's story, Alice. In total, Walt Disney made 56 films featuring Alice.

New characters

Until 1927, the Walt Disney Company primarily produced Alice films. In 1927, “Oswald the Rabbit” gained popularity among viewers and critics.

Birth of Mickey Mouse

Famous mouse Mickey Mouse was created by a partner and senior animator of the company Ab Iwerks. It was first shown to viewers in 1928 in the film “The Crazy Airplane.” This film was still silent (no sound).

Initially, the Disney mouse was named Mortimer and only a little later received the name Mickey Mouse

Also in 1928, synchronized sound appeared in Walt Disney animated films. Walt himself voiced Mickey Mouse in several films.

Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck

During the 10-year period of successful growth, several more famous characters were born at the Walt Disney Company: funny dogs Pluto and Goofy, as well as Donald Duck in his vest.

• Pluto appeared before audiences in 1930.
• Goofy became famous in 1932.
• Donald Duck first appeared on screens in 1934 and is still one of Disney's most famous characters.

Snow White

It is believed that the fastest pace of growth in Walt Disney's popularity began after the release of his full-length film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name.

This film, released in December 1937, was liked not only by the public, but also by critics. Also, laudatory articles were written about him in all newspapers.

Pinocchio

Walt Disney Company's second most successful feature film after Snow White "Pinocchio", published in 1940.

The composers of this film were awarded an Oscar for best musical accompaniment.

Famous films from The Walt Disney Company

In 1950, at the Berlin Film Festival, the painting "Cinderella" received the Golden Bear award. The prize was awarded for excellent technical skill.

In 1953, a new famous picture was released - “Peter Pan”.

In 1955 - “Lady and the Tramp”.

In 1959 - “Sleeping Beauty”.

In 1961 - “101 Dalmatians”.

All these pictures have become classic in the history of not only The Walt Disney Company, but the entire animated world.

Youth films

Shortly before Walt Disney's death in 1966, Disney began filming youth films. These were pictures full of adventure. Among the most famous are: “Treasure Island”, “Robin Hood”, “Mary Poppins”.

"Disneyland"

In the 50s the company decided to expand the scope of its activities. The first project appeared "Disneyland"- a theme park featuring some of the company's most famous characters.

The first Disneyland Park opened in 1955 in Anaheim (near Los Angeles).

Today, a network of Disney parks exists in different parts of our planet: America, Europe, China.

New stage in the company

After his brother's death, Roy Oliver Disney took over the company in 1966. During this period, it was decided to start winning over adult viewers. For this purpose, a new division was created - « TouchstonePictures".

The first picture of this studio, released in 1984, was “Splash”.

In 1983, the company's first cable channel began operating - TheDisneyChannel.

Rental leaders

In 1988, Disney first became box office leader among Hollywood studios. This happened thanks to the profits from the rental of such films as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “Good Morning, Vietnam”, and later: “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, “Dick Tracy”.

Miramax

Another division of Disney was the film company MiramaxFilms, purchased in 1993 for $80 million. In 2010, management sold it for 600 million.

Large fees

In 2003, two films by The Walt Disney Company brought in box office receipts over 300 million dollars: the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the Pixar co-production Finding Nemo.

In 2006, the Pixar studio was bought by Disney completely with all its equipment. This purchase quickly justified itself: during 2006-07, two cartoons were released that brought Disney big profits: “Cars” and “Ratatouille.”

Purchase of the creator of "Star Wars"

In 2012, the creator of the famous Star Wars franchise Lucasfilm was purchased by the company for $4 billion along with the rights to continue filming this serial.

The triumph of Frozen

An animated film was released in the fall of 2013 "Cold heart", which became a real sensation, turning out to be the highest-grossing animated film in Disney history, as well as the highest-grossing animated film in cinema history and only the second animated film to exceed a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.

In 2014, the film "Frozen" received 2 Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“Let It Go”), 5 Annie Awards, award Golden Globe for best animated film, and Saturn Award, also for best animated film.

TheWaltDisneyCompany is an American transnational media corporation, the world's second broadcasting and cable company in terms of revenue after Comcast Corporation. The headquarters is located in Burbank, California, USA. Disney Studios was founded by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney on October 16, 1923. Having become a leader in the American animation industry, the company diversified its production and began to develop such areas as feature films, television and amusement parks. The studio operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions until 1986, when the holding company included theatrical divisions, radio, recording studios, publishing houses and online media. In addition to the main directions, Disney is beginning to develop divisions that are not associated with its flagship brands - for example, it is opening a business unit for selling content for the older generation.

Since 1986, the corporation has been known as The Walt Disney Company. Currently, The Walt Disney Company includes five key segments: The Walt Disney Studios - film labels, recording and theatrical divisions; Parks and Resorts - amusement parks, cruise lines and other travel-related assets; Disney Consumer Products - production of toys, clothing and other branded goods; Media Networks - television production of the company; Disney Interactive - Internet projects, mobile projects, social media, virtual worlds and computer games. The corporation also includes brands such as The Muppets Studio, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm.

Since May 6, 1991, the company's shares have been included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and are traded on the NYSE New York Stock Exchange and the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Ticker: DIS.

Stock quotesWaltDisneyCompanyonline (with capitalization, P/E, EPS and beta ratios)

Buy shares of this company on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange

The St. Petersburg Exchange, together with Freedom24.ru, the first online securities store in Russia, provides the opportunity to purchase shares online*.

* Services for the acquisition of shares are provided by Freedom Finance Investment Company LLC (TIN 7705934210, OGRN 1107746963785, location: 129090, Moscow, Olimpiysky Prospekt, 14). The transfer of information and transfer of funds for the purchase of shares using the Financial One Magazine website is carried out to Freedom Finance Investment Company LLC. Financial One Magazine is not responsible for any losses associated with the purchase of shares under the stated conditions using the Financial One Magazine website.

Walt Disney is a prime example of a person who made the American Dream come true. He was born in 1901 into a very poor Irish family and earned his first fee as an artist at the age of 7 - a neighbor gave the boy 5 cents for a portrait of his horse. Then little Walt probably didn’t know that his abilities and love for drawing would allow him in the future to receive more than 20 Oscars for cartoons and create a successful company that would later become a global multimedia empire...

Brand creation and first successes

The official history of the Walt Disney brand begins back in 1923. This year, the brothers Walt and Roy Disney organized a modest animation studio in Hollywood called “Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio” - then it was a fairly new, advanced direction. At the same time, Walt, despite the fact that he was very young, already had some experience - he worked as an artist on a team that created commercials.

The first film from the new studio was released in March 1924. It was called "Alice's Day at Sea." Its plot was inspired by Carroll's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". In 1926–1927, the studio created a whole series of cartoons, the main character of which was the same girl Alice.

But something else brought Walt Disney worldwide fame. It all started with the 1927 cartoon Oswald the Rabbit. Walt Disney saw that funny "animal" characters were popular, and the studio began to work in this direction. A year later, the legendary Mickey Mouse was created. In 1928, Mickey the mouse became the main character of the first cartoon film with synchronized sound, Steamboat Willie. By the way, Walt Disney personally worked on the voice acting of Mickey. The cartoon was a resounding success and opened up enormous opportunities for further development and expansion for the Disney brothers' studio. And the brothers took advantage of them.

Innovative approaches and brilliant ideas of Walt Disney

Walt Disney had outstanding artistic flair and entrepreneurial talent - a rather rare combination, which ultimately allowed this animator to realize himself one hundred percent. And Walt Disney, as the head of the studio, was distinguished, for example, by the fact that he always sought to introduce new technologies and innovative approaches both in animation and in personnel management. There are several examples that clearly prove this.

It was at the Disney studio that the first commercial film was created using three-color Technicolor technology. We are talking about the cartoon "Flowers and Trees", released in July 1932.

The Disney studio was the first in the world to introduce a system of additional bonuses for animators. They received additional payments for each “working” idea proposed to the company’s managers. Subsequently, all major studios, including Soviet ones, for example, Soyuzmultfilm, adopted this practice.

Many innovations were invented and implemented during the work on the 83-minute animated film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” To make the work process go faster, Disney divided the artists into two groups. The first included the best artists who painted the “key” shots. And the intermediate and complementary frames were drawn by a large team of phase animators. It was a very effective solution.

In the forties and early fifties, several more full-length masterpieces were created, and this increased the studio’s army of fans by an order of magnitude. Many children and adults wanted to see their favorite characters and how they were created. As a result, Walt Disney came up with another truly brilliant idea - he decided to build an amusement park where cartoon characters could become closer to the audience.

In 1954, Walt Disney bought more than 60 hectares of land in New Orleans, mortgaged his property and began creating the Disneyland park. A total of $17 million was invested in this construction, but the project turned out to be very successful and paid off in just a few years. Soon the park's income already exceeded the income of the film studio itself. By the way, approximately this situation has been preserved to this day: the company receives most of its profits from its amusement parks, as well as from sales of franchises and rights to cartoon characters.

You can learn interesting facts from the life of Walt Disney from the video.

1966-1984: hard times for The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney died in 1966. Brother Roy continued to manage the company, but he soon passed away too, this happened in 1971. After the death of the founders, not the most favorable period began for the company. The viewership of their cartoons at this time decreased noticeably, as a result of which the income of The Walt Disney Company also sharply decreased.

For several years, the company stayed afloat only thanks to the profits received from the amusement park. And not a single, fully paid off, popular cartoon or film was released during this period.

The Walt Disney brand from 1984 to the present day

The situation changed only in 1984, when the business was bought by Texas oil magnates. They hired experienced managers who put the company's financial affairs in order. And in the nineties, such cult masterpieces as “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Lion King”, “Cinderella”, etc. were released under the Walt Disney brand.

With the advent of the new millennium, the company began to face significant competition from the Pixar studio, a pioneer of digital technologies in animation. Soon Walt Disney entered into a partnership with this studio: Pixar was involved in the creative part, and Disney took over the distribution and promotion of content through its own established network. But after several conflicts, Disney decided to buy Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion. This transaction allowed the conglomerate to strengthen its position in the multimedia market.

From the mid-eighties to this day One of the striking features of Walt Disney's business strategy is the desire for acquisitions and purchases of new assets. This doesn't just apply to Pixar. The company also purchased, for example, George Lucas' studio Lucasfilm, the legendary comic book publishing house Marvel Entertainment, etc.

The Walt Disney Company is included in the respected Dow Jones Industrial Average. According to 2017 data, the company's market capitalization was $172.77 billion. The key figures of the company at the moment are Robert Iger (SEO), John Pepper (chairman) and Anne Sweeney (head of some key divisions of the conglomerate).

The financial condition and prospects of the Disney empire so far look very rosy. As before, it actively adopts new technologies and keeps pace with the times. And new amusement parks also continue to open in different areas of the globe.

Competitors of the Disney multimedia empire

In a certain sense a conglomerate like The Walt Disney Company has no analogues in the world. Its numerous diversified branches are united, in fact, only by the brand. But in certain industries it, of course, has strong competitors.

Its obvious competition is from such large media associations as Time Warner, Viacom, Universal, and News Corporation. Big rival studios include DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox. There are also competitors in the amusement and resort park industries. These are, in particular, Cedar Fair LP, Six Flags, Blackstone Group.

History of the Walt Disney brand in Russia

The Walt Disney Company's business in the Russian Federation is conducted through its subsidiary, The Walt Disney Company CIS. It was established back in 2006. The key areas of work of the Russian division today are:

• organization of film distribution of Disney films and cartoons in the Russian Federation;
• release of licensed DVDs;
• distribution of television, mobile and digital content;
• publishing business;
• licensing of various Disney-branded products;
• production and distribution of games for PCs and popular consoles.

The duties of the general director of the Walt Disney Company CIS from 2006 to 2017 were performed by Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan, who previously worked in senior positions in the largest media corporations in Russia.

Walt Disney was, without a doubt, a unique person. He skillfully combined the traits of a good storyteller and a good entrepreneur, wisely balancing between his desires and real possibilities. Therefore, it is not surprising that the company he created continues to develop and prosper even today - 90 years after its founding. you can read in the corresponding article. And this text tells how it all began.

One of America's most experienced businessmen was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago in the family of a poor Irish immigrant. He was the youngest of four children, but this did not relieve him of the need to earn his own bread from childhood - the boy from an early age delivered newspapers, sold on trains, worked on a farm and more. In his free time, little Walt drew comics and made cartoon sketches, which he then sold.

As soon as the young man turned 16, he volunteered for the Red Cross. His goal was to help soldiers of the First World War - Walt went to Europe, where he worked as an ambulance driver for a year. Upon returning to the USA, the young man enters the Chicago Institute of Arts. During his studies there, Walt Disney, who had previously planned to study as an actor, felt for the first time a craving for animation.

Together with his brother Roy, in their uncle's garage, Walt organizes an animation studio, which is called Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. A period of hard work begins, which was accompanied by both financial difficulties and a fierce struggle to assert copyright on the products created by the brothers.

The Disney brothers' first cartoon was Alice in Wonderland. It differed from all other animated films of that time in its unusual idea - it was about an ordinary person who found himself in the world of animation. The popularity of the film exceeded all expectations. The brothers received a good fee and changed the name of their company to a more laconic one - Walt Disney Company. This happened in 1923; the company acquired its famous logo a little later. At first it was a silhouette of the German Neuschwanstein Castle, and later of the French Chateau Dusset. At the bottom there is the inscription “Walt Disney Pictures”. It would be difficult to find a more successful logo for a company that produces films for children.
Animators, meanwhile, had to move on. Walt Disney understood that the main thing for them was to keep up with the times. The era of sound films was beginning in cinema, which meant the end of silent cartoons. The first animated character to speak on screen was Mickey Mouse. He spoke, by the way, in the voice of Walt Disney himself. Over the next twenty years, the animator personally voiced his favorite hero, who soon became one of the symbols of America itself.

Following the first sound cartoon, cycles of such short films as “Funny Symphonies”, “Skeleton Dance” and “The Three Little Pigs” were released, which introduced the viewer to completely new characters - Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck. In 1937, Walt Disney released the first hand-drawn feature film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and a little later, the first color cartoon called “The Concert.”
While working on the films, Walt Disney simultaneously served as director, producer and screenwriter. It is noteworthy that he took on only those projects that seemed interesting to him. That's why one cartoon could be a huge success, and the next one could be a complete failure. It was at the Disney brothers' studio that bonuses for animators were first introduced - each of them received a reward for each idea proposed to the company's management. Later, this approach was adopted by other film studios, including Soyuzmultfilm.

In the early 50s, along with the success of Disney cartoons, the number of people who wanted to see the process of creating animated films with their own eyes grew. The animator, having reflected that the film studio itself could turn out to be a very boring place for visitors, came to the conclusion - why not create an amusement park in which all the cartoon characters would come to life?
Thus, in 1954, Walt Disney, setting a new goal, bought 65 hectares of an orange grove in New Orleans. Having pledged all his property, as well as having resolved the issue of attracting investors, the entrepreneur creates an amusement park - Disneyland. The $17 million invested in the park during its construction was more than recouped in just a few years, and five years after the opening of Disneyland, the income from it had already exceeded the income from the company's film industry.

The whole world has already talked about the amusement park and the Disney film studio, and who knows how much the fame of the Walt Disney Company would have increased if the great Walt Disney had not died in 1966. The chair of the head of the board passed to his brother Roy, who, unfortunately, barely outlived Walt.

After Roy's death in 1971, the Disney film studio fell on hard times. In the early 80s, the audience for family films in the United States declined significantly, and along with it, the company's income decreased. For several years, the Walt Disney Company stayed afloat only thanks to the income received from the amusement park. During this time, not a single popular film was released.

This situation lasted until 1984, until part of the company's shares were bought out by Texas oil magnates - the Bass family. The new owners, without hesitation, installed new experienced managers at the helm of the company. They were Frank Wells, the former vice chairman of Warner Brothers, as well as Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenburg, who previously worked for Paramount. Thanks to their efforts, the Walt Disney Company began to gradually regain its previously lost positions. The show “The Magical World of Disney” was created and its own cable channel, The Disney Channel, was launched. The following years were also marked by the release of such cartoons as “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin” and “The Lion King”.

The Disney Company (English: The Walt Disney Company) (NYSE – DIS) is a global leader in the entertainment industry.

Disney is one of the ten most valuable brands in the world, is active in 172 countries and represents 1,300 radio and television channels broadcasting in 53 languages, including the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

Disney is one of the world's largest licensors, as well as the largest publisher of children's literature in the world. In Europe and Latin America, it leads the list of distributors of video products.

The company's headquarters and main production facilities are concentrated in the Walt Disney Studios division (Walt Disney Studios) in Burbank, California, USA.

Origins of the company

The company was founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walter and Roy Disney as a small animation studio. The first work took place in my uncle's garage. Soon the brothers received their first order from New York for a series of short cartoons and began their production activities.

(Walt Disney (1901-1966) - American animator, film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He became the creator of the first sound cartoon in history, the first musical and the first full-length. During his unusually busy life, Walt Disney as a director made 111 films and was the producer of another 576 films.Disney's achievements in the field of cinema were recognized by 26 Oscars and many other awards and honors.

On March 1, 1924, Disney presented its first stunt film, Alice's Day at Sea, inspired by the characters in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The director also named his series of films, drawn in 1926-1927, in honor of the heroine of this book - “Alice in Animation Land” (in total, Disney made 56 films about Alice’s adventures).

Since its founding, the Disney company and its constituent structures have remained true to its main principle - to create exceptionally high-quality entertainment products, using the wealth of experience accumulated over many years of successful work.

Today, Disney consists of four divisions:

Studios (The Walt Disney Studios)

The Walt Disney Studios is the foundation on which the Disney building is built. It is based on world-famous animated and live-action films.

The Walt Disney Studiosis engaged distribution paintings studiosWalt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Touchstone PicturesAndHollywood Pictures.Disney Theatrical Productions is one of the largest production centers on Broadway. IN her compositionDisney Live Family EntertainmentAndDisney on Ice,engaged ice show. The Disney Music Group division produces music of various genres and soundtracks.

Business Standards and Work Ethics

Throughout its history, Disney has developed best-in-class business standards that are one of the most important elements of business practices today.

Business Standards for Employees and Ethics Training

Professional training is required to perform the production activities of company employees and the work of actors. In addition, each employee is required to know the standards of business conduct and ethics known as the Disney Development Connection. Compliance with these standards ensures that all company employees and actors are knowledgeable and trained to act ethically and legally.

Recruitment Methods

The Company's employment policy provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, including applicants who are prohibited by state or federal laws for certain reasons.