In what’s likely a surprise to pretty much everyone, Disney has announced it’s acquired Marvel Comics for $4 billion (pending approval of anti-trust and the vaunted share-holders).
“Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.
Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel’s superhero fare in recent years. That contrasts with Disney’s recent successes among young women with such fare as ‘Hannah Montana’ and the Jonas Brothers.
“It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with,” Joyce said, noting the $4 billion offer was at ‘full price.’”
Obviously this is pretty big, and with Disney backing up Marvel, that puts them on par with DC in terms of financial stability. However, no one’s commented on whether or not Disney will influence Marvel in any way in terms of content. Logically, they wouldn’t mess with a (relatively) good thing, but companies aren’t always prone to logic.
[Source: Yahoo News]
