Back The Walt Disney Company Abkhazian The Walt Disney Company Afrikaans ዲዝኒ Amharic شركة والت ديزني Arabic شركة والت ديزنى ARZ The Walt Disney Company AST The Walt Disney Company Azerbaijani والت دیزنی شیرکتی AZB Volts Disniejos BAT-SMG The Walt Disney Company BCL
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 The Walt Disney Studios, the company's headquarters in Burbank, California in July 2016. | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| ISIN | US2546871060 |
| Industry | |
| Predecessor | Laugh-O-Gram Studio |
| Founded | October 16, 1923 |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | The Walt Disney Studios, , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Revenue |  US$91.361 billion (FY24) |
| US$15.601 billion (FY24) | |
| US$4.972 billion (FY24) | |
| Total assets |  US$196.219 billion (FY24) |
| Total equity | US$105.522 billion (FY24) |
Number of employees | 225,000 (FY23) |
| Divisions | |
| Subsidiaries | National Geographic Partners (73%) |
| Website | thewaltdisneycompany |
| Footnotes / references Financials as of fiscal year ended September 30, 2023[update]. References:[1][2][3] | |
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923 as an animation studio, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it later operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse,[4] who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.[not verified in body]
After becoming a success by the early 1940s,[5][6][7] Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation from 1989 to 1999. In 2005, under the new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.[8]
The company’s namesake film studio division includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, and Searchlight Pictures. Disney's other main business units include divisions operating the ABC television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, and Hotstar; and Disney Experiences, which includes several theme parks, resort hotels, and cruise lines around the world.
Disney is one of the biggest and best-known companies in the world[citation needed]. In 2023 it was ranked 87th on the 2023 Forbes Global 2000[9] and 48th of the Fortune 500 list of biggest companies in the United States by revenue.[10] Since its founding, the company has won 135 Academy Awards, 26 of which were awarded to Walt. The company has produced films which have featured on many lists of the greatest films of all time, and is one of the key players on the development of the theme park industry. The company has been public since 1940 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1991. In August 2020, about two-thirds of the stock was owned by large financial institutions. The company celebrated its 100th anniversary on October 16, 2023.
- ^ "Walt Disney". Fortune. Archived from the original on July 30, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
- ^ "The Walt Disney Company Form 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. November 21, 2023. Archived from the original on November 27, 2023.
- ^ Gibson, Kate (June 24, 2022). "Disney among slew of U.S. companies promising to cover abortion travel costs". CBS News. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
- ^ Davis, Elizabeth (June 25, 2019). "Historically yours: Mickey Mouse is born". Jefferson City News Tribune. Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ Books, LIFE (May 13, 2016). "How World War II Changed Walt Disney". TIME. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
- ^ Allison, Austin (October 14, 2021). "How Disney Animation's Most Forgotten Era Saved the Studio During WWII". Collider. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
- ^ "Disney Through the Decades | Cornell Cinema". cinema.cornell.edu. September 8, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
- ^ "Disney Shocker! Bob Iger Back As CEO, Bob Chapek Out". Deadline. November 20, 2022. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- ^ "The Global 2000 2023". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 29, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ Stankova, Monica (December 6, 2023). "Fortune 500 List of Companies 2023 and Their Domain Name Choices". Smart Branding. Retrieved November 4, 2024.