The Walt Disney Company

**The Walt Disney Company**, commonly known as **Disney**, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios Complex in Burbank, California. Disney was started on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986.

Disney is known for Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, Frozen, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled and Pinocchio. Pixar famous movies such as Toy Story and Cars. Marvel Comics well known famous superhero comics such as Spider-Man and Hulk. They also had Lucasfilm media franchises such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and Jim Henson's original franchises such as The Muppets.

In its early days the company established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film _Steamboat Willie_, which used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon and debuted the widely popular character Mickey Mouse, who would go on to become the company's mascot and corporate icon.

## Divisions

The company's main units are Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, Media Networks and Consumer Products.

### Studio Entertainment

This unit, also called the Walt Disney Studios, is headed by Chairman Dick Cook. It consists of:
- The Walt Disney Studios – movie studios Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios and Hollywood Pictures.
- The Disney Music Group – Walt Disney Records, Mammoth Records, Lyric Street Records and Hollywood Records.
- Distribution companies: Buena Vista International and Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

One of the Studios' largest assets lies in Walt Disney Animation Studios, which has made a successful string of animated movies for almost seven decades. Because of failures with most of their recent additions, it has changed its focus from traditional hand-drawn to CGI movies. Pixar, also owned by Disney, is one of the first studios to create CGI movies. Since 2006, Disney has bought three movie studios: Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm and Pixar.

### Parks and Resorts

Worldwide, Disney has eleven theme parks (as of June 2025)
- Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California
    - Disneyland Park in California
    - Disney's California Adventure in California
- Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida
    - Magic Kingdom in Florida
    - Epcot in Florida
    - Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida
    - Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida
- Disneyland Paris in France
- Walt Disney Studios in France
- Tokyo Disneyland in Japan
- Tokyo DisneySea in Japan
- Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
- Shanghai Disneyland Park in China

Disney once owned the sports teams, the Angels (baseball) and the Mighty Ducks (ice hockey), both based in Anaheim, California. These teams were later sold to other people.

### Disney Enterprises Inc.

**Disney Enterprises Inc.** is a subsidiary of the company; the name is found in many of its franchises.

### Media Networks

The ABC television network, which Disney bought in 1995, serves as the center of this unit. Cable television channels within it include Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN,  ESPN on ABC, Freeform,and PBS (which Disney's ABC owns the Public TV network). It also partly owns Lifetime, A&E and E!.

Buena Vista Television, responsible for the syndication of many Disney series, produces some of its own as well: _Tamron Hall_, _The View_, _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire_,  _Live with Regis and Kelly_, and _Ebert & Roeper_.

### Consumer Products

Merchandising and licensing within the company are overseen in this division. Disney Publishing Worldwide, part of this unit, has Disney Press, Disney Editions and Hyperion Books as its brands.

It once owned the Disney Store shopping chain until 2004, when it sold all the stores to The Children's Place.

## History

- 1923: Disney is founded
- 1925: First appearance of Pegleg Pete cartoon, _Alice Solves the Puzzle_
- 1928: First Mickey Mouse cartoon, _Plane Crazy_
- 1928: First appearance of Minnie Mouse cartoon, _Plane Crazy_
- 1928: First official Mickey Mouse cartoon, _Steamboat Willie_
- 1929: Start of the _Silly Symphonies_: _The Skeleton Dance_
- 1929: First Silly Symphony episode, _The Skeleton Dance_
- 1930: First appearance of Pluto cartoon, _The Chain Gang_
- 1932: First appearance of Goofy cartoon, _Mickey's Revue_ (Columbia Pictures Studios)
- 1932: First full-colour cartoon, _Flowers and Trees_
- 1933: First appearance of Fifi the Peke cartoons, _Puppy Love_
- 1933: First Donald Duck Theme Music #1, _The Steeplechase_
- 1933: First Pluto's Devil cartoons, _Mickey's Pal Pluto_
- 1933: First Pluto's Angel cartoons, _Mickey's Pal Pluto_
- 1934: First Walt Disney segment, _The Hot Choco-Late Soldiers_
- 1934: First Donald Duck cartoon, _The Wise Little Hen_
- 1937: First Daisy Duck cartoon, _Don Donald_
- 1937: First Pluto, Jr. cartoons. _Pluto's Quin-Puplets_
- 1937: First full-length animated movie, _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_
- 1938: First Huey, Dewey and Louie cartoons, _Donald's Nephews_
- 1939: First Goofy episode, _Goofy and Wilbur_
- 1939: First Mickey Mouse Theme #1, _The Standard Parade_
- 1940: First Disney movie failed at the box office, _Pinocchio_
- 1940: First Pluto episode, _Bone Trouble_
- 1940: First Donald Duck Theme #2, _Window Cleaners_
- 1940: First Goofy Theme #1, _Goofy's Glider_
- 1940: First Pluto #1, _Private Parate_
- 1940: Studio moves to Burbank, California
- 1940: Fantasia's debut
- 1941: Dumbo's debut
- 1942: Bambi's debut
- 1942: First P.J. cartoons, _Bellboy Donald_
- 1943: First Scrooge McDuck cartoons, _The Spirit of '43_
- 1943: First Chip 'n' Dale cartoons, _Private Pluto_
- 1944: First Pluto Theme #2, _Springtime for Pluto_
- 1945: First Dutch cartoons, _Canine Casanova_
- 1946: _Song of the South_s debut
- 1947: First Pluto Theme #3, _Pluto's Housewarming_
- 1947: First Donald Duck Theme #3, _Donald's Dilemma_
- 1947: First Mickey Mouse #2, _Mickey's Delayed Date_
- 1950: Cinderella's debut
- 1950: First Goofy Theme #2, _Motor Mania_
- 1954: Walt Disney anthology series starts
- 1955: Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California
- 1955: First widescreen cartoon, _Lady and the Tramp_
- 1964: Mary Poppins becomes the first Disney movie to be nominated for Best Picture
- 1966: Walt Disney dies; his brother Roy takes over the studio
- 1967: Last animated movie from producer Walt Disney, _The Jungle Book_
- 1971: Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida
- 1979: Don Bluth and friends leave the studio
- 1979: _The Black Hole_, Disney's first PG movie, is a failure with critics.
- 1981: Disney's last movie that has any of the Nine Old Men as the animators: _The Fox and the Hound_
- 1983: Disney Channel is launched
- 1984: Touchstone Pictures starts with _Splash_
- 1984: Michael Eisner became the CEO of Disney
- 1984: Disney Television Animation is founded
- 1985: Disney's first animated movie that was rated PG: _The Black Cauldron_
- 1985: Disney's first two animated series for television _The Adventures of the Gummi Bears_ and _The Wuzzles_ premiere on NBC and CBS’ Saturday Morning lineups.
- 1987: Disney animated television series _DuckTales_
- 1988: Who framed Roger Rabbit's debut
- 1988: DisneyToons Studios opens
- 1989: _The Little Mermaid_ brings new life in the animation division as well as the genre; studio gets its first Oscar in eighteen years for this movie
- 1990: Hollywood Pictures starts with _Arachnophobia_
- 1991: _Beauty and the Beast_ becomes the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture
- 1992: Disney releases _Aladdin_
- 1993: The Nightmare Before Christmas's debut
- 1993: Disney buys the Miramax movie studio.
- 1994: Studio president Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter crash
- 1994: The Lion King is released. It becomes the highest grossing hand drawn animated movie of all time.
- 1994: Jeffrey Katzenberg resigns from Disney.
- 1995: First Pixar movie, _Toy Story_
- 1996: Disney acquires American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and ESPN
- 2001: Disney Channel television series _Lizzie McGuire_
- 2001: First Pixar movie that was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Monsters Inc.
- 2003: First Pixar movie that won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Finding Nemo
- 2003: _Pirates of the Caribbean_ becomes studio's first family movie with a rating of PG-13
- 2004: Disney acquired the Muppets franchise from Henson
- 2004: _Home on the Range_ is Disney's last traditionally animated movie to use CAPS
- 2004: First Pixar movie that is rated PG, The Incredibles
- 2005: Disneyland celebrates fiftieth birthday
- 2005: Michael Eisner resigns from Disney. He was replaced by Bob Iger.
- 2005:The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe's debut
- 2005: First self-made CGI movie, _Chicken Little_
- 2009: Up becomes the first Pixar animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture
- 2009: Disney buys comic book publisher Marvel Comics for 4 billion US dollars.
- 2010: Disney sells one of its movie studios, Miramax Films, to Filmyard Holdings.
- 2012: Disney buys movie studio Lucasfilm for 4 billion US dollars.
- 2013: Disney releases _Frozen_, which becomes the studio's first non-Pixar movie to win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
- 2016: Disney releases _Moana_.
- 2018: DisneyToon Studios was closed down
- 2018: John Lasseter left Disney
- 2018: Touchstone Pictures was closed down
- 2019: Disney acquired 21st Century Fox’s assets
- 2019: Disney's acquisition of PBS soon by 2027.
- 2019: Ed Catmull retires
- 2019: Disney creates their own streaming service, Disney+ (including Pixar, Marvel Comics and Star Wars) in November 2019.
- 2020: Bob Iger resigns as the CEO of Disney. He was replaced by Bob Chapek as CEO.
- 2021: Disney closes its radio station, Radio Disney.
- 2021: Disney+ creates Disney Channel and Disney XD outside of the US, which has Disney movies and television programs for kids.
- 2021: The Walt Disney Company Latin America rebrands all the channels with the Disney name in Latin America, to Disney-PBS.
- 2022: The Walt Disney Company Latin America closes Star Premium in January 31st, 2022.
- 2022: Bob Chapek got fired, and Bob Iger returned as a CEO of Disney.
- 2023: Disney celebrates the 100th Anniversary.

## Characters

- Snow White - A 14-year-old princess.
- The Evil Queen
- Doc
- Grumpy
- Sleepy
- Happy
- Bashful
- Sneezy
- Dopey
- The Prince
- The Magic Mirror
- The Huntsman

### Pinocchio (1940 movie)

- Pinocchio - An 8-year-old puppet.
- Jiminy Cricket
- Geppetto
- Figaro
- Honest John
- Stromboli
- Blue Fairy
- Lampwick
- Carnival Barker
- Monstro

## Disney+

- On November 12, 2019, Disney launched their own streaming service, Disney+. The platform features almost all of their cartoons, short movies, movies and TV shows along with those made by properties bought by Disney, such as Disney, The Muppets, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel. It also features original content, such as several Marvel and Star Wars programs. R rated movies and shows appear on Hulu and PBS, and movies, cartoons, and TV shows that feature smoking, swear words, violence, and stereotypical depictions of Native Americans, Asians, and other minorities come with a warning.

## Related pages

- Walt Disney Pictures
- List of Disney animated movies
- List of Disney characters

## Other websites

- The Official Site
- Corporate Site

## Infobox (company)

- **name**: The Walt Disney Company
- **logo**: The Walt Disney Company Logo.svg
- **logo caption**: The corporate variant of the Disney logo
- **type**: Public company, Public
- **image**: Walt Disney Studios Alameda Entrance.jpg
- **image size**: 250px
- **image caption**: The Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios corporate Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), headquarters in Burbank, California, 2016
- **trading name**: Disney
- **predecessors**: Laugh-O-Gram Studio
- **founders**: Walt Disney, Roy O. Disney
- **hq location**: Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)#Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building, Team Disney Building, Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Studios
- **hq location city**: Burbank, California
- **hq location country**: U.S.
- **area served**: Worldwide
- **revenue year**: 2022
- **income year**: 2022
- **net income year**: 2022
- **assets year**: 2022
- **equity year**: 2022
- **num employees year**: 2022