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The Disney x Marvel collaboration was the ultimate glow-up story of the entertainment world. Yeah, we’re talking about that 2009 deal when Mickey Mouse shook hands with Iron Man for a cool $4 billion.
Flash forward to today, and it took 15 years for Marvel’s value to grow to $54 billion, at least going by Marca’s estimations. Forbes estimated it to be around $53 billion in 2021.
Of course, the internet has thoughts about all this. One X user came in hot, tweeting,
“Imagine thinking Disney didn’t destroy Marvel. Iykyk.”
Another countered with, “They should buy Spider-Man from Sony next.”
A user said: "And in 15 years, they trashed it…and Star Wars."
Yet anothet user went on to ask: "Is it though?"
A user posted an AI-generated image of Mickey Mouse with an Infinity Gauntlet writing "Live look at Disney:"
A comment read: "From 4 billion to 50 billion in value in 15 years is one hell of a financial turnaround."
Marvel’s origin story
In 1933, Timely Publications (aka Marvel’s OG name) was creating comic book magic. Jump forward a few decades, and such legends as Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man appeared.
The mid-nineties were quite a low point for Marvel. The company was straight-up bankrupt by 1996.
But Marvel wasn’t about to take that L. By 2005, it pivoted to the film and TV biz and rebranded as Marvel Entertainment.
In the year 2009, Disney came riding like a fairy godmother with a $4 billion bailout plan. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) had been positioned for world domination.
Disney buys Marvel
Disney’s $4 billion wasn’t just Monopoly money. They paid $2.4 billion in cash and handed out about 50 million shares of Disney stock, worth another $1.9 billion.
Marvel’s shareholders got $30 cash per share and some Disney stock for every Marvel share they held.
Not bad for a company fresh out of bankruptcy less than two decades prior, huh?
Bob Iger, Disney’s then-CEO, was hyped about the deal. Back then in a press release, he stated:
"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation".
The assets of Marvel were worth $5,685 billion. About $2.269 billion of that was chalked up to “goodwill,” which is corporate-speak for, We’ve got Spider-Man, y’all.
The MCU as cash machine supreme
And ever since Disney started meddling with Marvel, the MCU has been an unstoppable economic behemoth. Collectively the movie franchise has grossed over $30 billion from 33 feature films worldwide making it the highest-grossing movie franchise in history.
A purple alien snapping fingers alone pulled $2.8 billion. We mean, Avengers: Endgame.
Flipping a $4 billion investment into $54 billion—better returns than even Tony Stark’s tech empire.
Why this deal is still a BFD?
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Marvel’s characters went from niche comic book heroes to mainstream icons. Everyone knows Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Panther now.
Disney’s strategic flex also paved the way for other acquisitions like Lucasfilm. The House of Mouse keeps winning.
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