The Walt Disney Company
Running Head: The Walt Disney Company
FIN534: Financial Analysis
Heather Kain
Strayer University
Dr. John Karaffa
November 30, 2011
Introduction
The Walt Disney Company, along with its subsidiaries, is a diversified entertainment company. Its animation studio, parks, resorts, consumer products and media networks has allowed the Walt Disney Company to remain a staple in the entertainment industry along with its impeccable ability to market to children and adults. Through analysis of the company overview, financial threats, financial performance and stock price analysis, one can examine the financial position of the Walt Disney Company.
Company Overview The Walt Disney Company was started in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, with a short film named Alice’s Wonderland (Company History, 2011). It was founded by man named Walter Elias Disney and his brother Roy; later on to be renamed The Walt Disney Company at Roy’s request (Company History, 2011). Four years later, in 1927, they created a cartoon series with a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Company History, 2011). Walt Disney learned a lot from this cartoon, because after the creation of 26 episodes, the distributor of the cartoon series decided to go behind Disney’s back and sign up all his animators in an effort to make more money (Company History, 2011). From then on, Walt Disney made sure to own everything that was created by the Walt Disney Company (Company History, 2011). After the loss of Oswald, Walt Disney created a new character in the form of a mouse. First to be named Mortimer Mouse, with the push of his wife Lilly, the mouse was named Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse starred in a cartoon episode name Steamboat Willie, which was the first cartoon Walt Disney created with sound (Company History, 2011). The creation of Mickey Mouse was the boost that Walt Disney needed to climb out of the slump created by the bad distribution deal of Oswald and make its stamp around the
FIN534: Financial Analysis
Heather Kain
Strayer University
Dr. John Karaffa
November 30, 2011
Introduction
The Walt Disney Company, along with its subsidiaries, is a diversified entertainment company. Its animation studio, parks, resorts, consumer products and media networks has allowed the Walt Disney Company to remain a staple in the entertainment industry along with its impeccable ability to market to children and adults. Through analysis of the company overview, financial threats, financial performance and stock price analysis, one can examine the financial position of the Walt Disney Company.
Company Overview The Walt Disney Company was started in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, with a short film named Alice’s Wonderland (Company History, 2011). It was founded by man named Walter Elias Disney and his brother Roy; later on to be renamed The Walt Disney Company at Roy’s request (Company History, 2011). Four years later, in 1927, they created a cartoon series with a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Company History, 2011). Walt Disney learned a lot from this cartoon, because after the creation of 26 episodes, the distributor of the cartoon series decided to go behind Disney’s back and sign up all his animators in an effort to make more money (Company History, 2011). From then on, Walt Disney made sure to own everything that was created by the Walt Disney Company (Company History, 2011). After the loss of Oswald, Walt Disney created a new character in the form of a mouse. First to be named Mortimer Mouse, with the push of his wife Lilly, the mouse was named Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse starred in a cartoon episode name Steamboat Willie, which was the first cartoon Walt Disney created with sound (Company History, 2011). The creation of Mickey Mouse was the boost that Walt Disney needed to climb out of the slump created by the bad distribution deal of Oswald and make its stamp around the
Cited: Company History (Continued). (2011). Retrieved November 26, 2011, from The Walt Disney Company: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/complete_history_2.html Company History. (2011). Retrieved November 26, 2011, from The Walt Disney Company: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/complete_history_1.html Company Overview. (2011). Retrieved November 26, 2011, from The Walt Disney Company: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/overview.html Fiscal Year 2010: Annual Financial Report and Shareholder Letter. (2010). Retrieved November 26, 2011, from The Walt Disney Company: http://amedia.disney.go.com/investorrelations/annual_reports/WDC-10kwrap-2010.pdf?int_cmp=corp_IR_ARview_link1__Intll Walt Disney Co. (DIS). (2011). Retrieved 11 30, 2011, from Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=DIS+Interactive#chart3:symbol=dis;range=2y;compare=nwsa;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined Walt Disney Co. (DIS): Balance Sheet. (2011). Retrieved November 26, 2011, from Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=DIS+Balance+Sheet&annual Walt Disney Co. (DIS): Income Statement. (2011). Retrieved November 26, 2011, from Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=DIS+Income+Statement&annual Walt Disney Company SWOT Analysis. (2011). DATAMONITOR: The Walt Disney Company. , 9.