Disney/Marvel

[Moefiz]

Disney to Buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion
August 31, 2009, 9:27 am

The Walt Disney Company said on Monday that it has agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment, bringing together the house of Mickey Mouse with the publisher of Spider-Man, for $4 billion in cash and stock.

Under the terms of the deal, Disney will pay $30 a share in cash and .745 Disney shares for every Marvel share, with no less than 40 percent of the deal being made in stock. Disney valued the deal at $50 a share as of the companies’ share prices on Friday.

Isaac Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive, will continue to oversee his company’s properties, including more than 5,000 characters that also include Iron Man and the X-Men.

Marvel has had a string of successful movies based on its characters, which analysts have praised in part for the company’s taking an active role in their production.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in a statement.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” Mr. Perlmutter said.

Marvel was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch...

Don't know if this is such a good ideal...

Could be great in some cases...