The Walt Disney Company owner of Infoseek
At Disney World, the company opened Disney's Animal Kingdom, the largest theme park in the world covering 580 acres (230 ha) on Earth Day, April 22, 1998. It had six animal-themed lands, over 2,000 animals, and the Tree of Life at its center. Receiving positive reviews, Disney's next animated films Mulan and Disney-Pixar film A Bug's Life were released on June 5 and November 20, 1998, respectively. Mulan became the year's sixth-highest-grossing film at $304 million, and A Bug's Life was the year's fifth-highest at $363 million. In a $770-million transaction, on June 18, Disney bought a 43% stake of Internet search engine Infoseek for $70 million, also giving it Infoseek-acquired Starwave. Starting web portal Go.com in a joint venture with Infoseek on January 12, 1999, Disney acquired the rest of Infoseek later that year. After unsuccessful negotiations with cruise lines Carnival and Royal Caribbean International, in 1994, Disney announced it would start its own cruise-line operation in 1998. The first two ships of the Disney Cruise Line would be named Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, and would be built by Fincantieri in Italy. To accompany the cruises, Disney bought Gorda Cay as the line's private island, and spent $25 million remodeling it and renaming it Castaway Cay. On July 30, 1998, Disney Magic set sail as the line's first voyage.
Marking the end of the Disney Renaissance, Tarzan (1999) was released on June 12, garnering $448 million at the box office and critical acclaim; it also claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart". Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 2 was released on November 13, garnering praise and $511 million at the box office. To replace Ovitz, Eisner named ABC network chief Bob Iger Disney's president and chief operating officer on January 25, 2000. In November, Disney sold DIC Entertainment back to Andy Heward, although still doing business with it. Disney had another huge success with Pixar when they released Monsters, Inc. in 2001. Later, Disney bought children's cable network Fox Family Worldwide for $3 billion and the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt. The deal also included 76% stake in Fox Kids Europe, Latin American channel Fox Kids, more than 6,500 episodes from Saban Entertainment's programming library, and Fox Family Channel. In 2001, Disney's operations had with a net loss of $158 million after a decline in viewership of the ABC television network, as well as decreased tourism due to the September 11 attacks. Disney earnings in fiscal 2001 were $120 million compared with the previous year's $920 million. To help reduce costs, Disney announced it would be lay off 4,000 employees and close 300 to 400 Disney Store outlets. After winning the World Series in 2002, Disney sold the Anaheim Angels to businessman Arturo Moreno for $180 million in 2003. In 2003, Disney became the first studio to garner $3 billion in a year at the box office. The same year, Roy Disney announced his retirement because of the way the company was being run, calling on Eisner to retire; the same week, board member Stanley Gold retired for the same reasons. Gold and Disney formed the "Save Disney" campaign.
In 2004, at the company's annual meeting, the shareholders in a 43% vote voted Eisner out of his position as chairman of the board. On March 4, George J. Mitchell, who was a member of the board, was named as Eisner's replacement. In April, Disney purchased the Muppets franchise from the Jim Henson Company for $75 million, founding Muppets Holding Company, LLC. Following the success of Disney-Pixar films Finding Nemo (2003), which became the second highest-grossing animated film of all time at $936 million, and The Incredibles (2004), Pixar looked for a new distributor once its deal with Disney ended in 2004. Disney sold the loss-making Disney Stores chain of 313 stores to Children's Place on October 20. Disney also sold the NHL team Mighty Ducks to Henry Samueli and his wife Susan in 2005. Roy E. Disney decided to rejoin the company and was given the role of consultant with the title "Director Emeritus".