Walt Disney Conglomerates

The Walt Disney Company is unique in that it has a large presence in several industries. As previously mentioned, the Walt Disney Company is involved in the media networks industry, the parks and resorts industry, the studio entertainment industry, and the consumer products and interactive media industry (capitaliq). The Walt Disney Company earned total revenues of approximately $55 billion in 2017. This $55 billion came from their business in these four industries.
The majority of the Walt Disney Company’s revenues came from the media networks industry. Approximately $24 billion of Disney’s total revenues from 2017 came from this industry. Since Disney does such a large portion of their business in this industry, this is where you can find
their primary competitors. Comcast, Time Warner, and 21st Century Fox are their top competitors in this industry. Therefore, these are the company’s primary competitors.
Comcast is a company that operates worldwide in cable communications, cable networks, broadcast television, filmed entertainment, and theme parks. They are one of the six conglomerates in the media networks industry (capitaliq). Their annual sales in 2017 were approximately $80.4 billion, which is higher than Disney’s. However, their net profit margin was 11.99% compared to Disney’s 16.29% (Hoover’s). Time Warner, Inc is another media entertainment company that competes with Disney. Time Warner’s segments are Turner, Home Box Office, and Warner Bros. Through these segments, Time Warner operates television networks like TBS and TNT, video services such as HBO and Cinemax, and licenses television programming and movies (capitaliq). Time Warner’s annual sales in 2017 were approximately $29 billion while their net profit margin was 13.59% (Hoover’s). 21st Century Fox is a media and entertainment company that operates through cable network programming, television, and filmed entertainment. It licenses different types of programming to be broadcast on television throughout the United States, broadcasts television programming, and acquires and produces movies for distribution and licensing (capitaliq). 21st Century Fox brought in about $29 billion in revenues in 2017, and their net profit margin was 10.3% (Hoover’s). Below is a chart depicting the net profit margins of the four companies based on data from Hoover’s Inc. These four companies compete primarily through motion picture production and television programming. Disney is famous for many of its movies, while plenty of people are familiar with the 21st Century Fox and Warner Brothers logos shown before many popular movies.
There are other competitors to the Walt Disney Company in the media networks industry as well.
The six conglomerates of the media industry are made up of Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, CBS Corp, and Viacom. Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, and 21st Century Fox are the leading conglomerates in annual sales. CBS Corp and Viacom earned $13.17 and $13.26 billion in annual sales in 2017 respectively (Hoover’s). This is much less than the other four companies, but it is enough for them to compete with the other conglomerates. CBS Corp and Viacom are secondary competitors. CBS operates around the globe as a mass media company. They are primarily known for having one of the major news and sports networks on television, CBS. They also own and operate several other local television stations and even do some publishing of adult and children’s consumer books (capitaliq). Viacom is a media entertainment company that operates through a media networks segment and a filmed entertainment segment. The media network segment operates many locally programmed television stations including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, and Spike among others. The filmed entertainment segment produces movies under the more recognizable name Paramount (capitaliq). These two companies compete with Disney in the media networks industry, specifically in motion pictures and television programming. Nickelodeon is the biggest competitor to the popular children’s television station, Disney Channel. CBS’s sports
programming competes largely with the Disney owned company ESPN. These are just a couple of the ways these companies compete with Disney.
The next largest segment of Disney is parks and resorts. The first things that comes to many people’s minds when they think of Disney are the amusement parks and resorts in Orlando, FL and Anaheim, CA. Disneyland and Disney World are not the only components of Disney’s parks and resorts segment though. This segment also includes Disney Resort and Spa in Hawaii, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Cruise Line, and Adventures by Disney, as well as other resorts managed around the world (capitaliq). Other amusement parks and resorts that compete with Disney in their second largest industry can be classified as secondary competitors.
Disney’s largest competitors in this industry are SeaWorld, Six Flags, and Universal Parks.
SeaWorld’s main operations are its marine-life theme parks located in San Diego, San Antonio, and Orlando. It also owns and operates other theme parks around the country (capitaliq). As these theme parks are their only area of business, they do not compete with Disney as an overall company, but they compete with Disney in the parks and resorts industry. SeaWorld’s annual sales in 2017 were $1.34 billion, but they had a net profit margin of -15.32% (Hoover’s). Six Flags owns and operates 17 theme and water parks in the United States under the name Six Flags. Like SeaWorld, the parks and resorts industry is the only industry Six Flags is involved in (capital iq). Therefore, they do not provide competition for Disney as an entire company, but they provide competition for Disney’s parks and resorts division. Six Flags had annual sales of $1.32 billion in 2017, and their net profit margin was 13.24% (Hoover’s). Disney’s other competitor in the parks and resorts industry, Universal Parks, is more comparable to Disney’s parks and resorts division as it is owned and operated by a company involved in many industries. Universal Parks are run by the theme parks segment of Comcast, which was discussed earlier as a primary competitor of the Walt Disney Company. Comcast, as a whole, is a primary competitor to Disney, and their theme parks segment, specifically Universal Parks, is a secondary
competitor to the parks and resorts segment of Disney. SeaWorld and Six Flags are also secondary competitors to Disney, as they provide the top competition to their parks and resorts segment.
This graph to the left shows the leading theme parks in attendance in 2016 by location. Disney owns many of the top locations, while SeaWorld, Six Flags, and Universal hold spots on the list as well (Themed Entertainment Association, n.p.).
Another popular portion of Disney’s parks and resorts segment is their Disney Cruise Line. Their Disney Cruise Line offers cruise packages and vacations, and their ships sail around the world. The company was incorporated in 1995, and they are based in Florida. As a portion of the parks and resorts segment, competitors to Disney Cruise Line could qualify as fringe competitors. Using this perspective, Carnival, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line, some of the top cruise lines in the industry along with Disney, are fringe competitors of Disney. Their business would pull business away from Disney Cruise Lines. Therefore, they would be competition to the Walt Disney Company. The following shows the cruise lines who earned the most revenue worldwide in 2016 (Statista, n.p.).
Other fringe competitors could be local amusement parks and resorts that are not nationally recognized or publicly traded. These parks and resorts may offer an appeal to people who live locally who would otherwise spend more money to travel somewhere luxurious, like Disney World or one of Disney’s resort destinations.