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How Did ESPN Pay for Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm? · Acquired

Acquired

Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire

In 1984, the Walt Disney Company was worth more dead than alive. Disney Animation — the heart of Walt's famous flywheel — had stagnated for years, bleeding away talent while corporate raiders circled, salivating over offers to sell off the film library to MGM and offload the parks to hotel operators. But what followed instead was the greatest turnaround in…

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Notes

  1. Can Disney Beat the Innovator's Dilemma? at 2:27

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal ask whether Disney can fight the innovator's dilemma and win. Full answer

  2. Why Was Disney Worth More Dead Than Alive in 1984? at 7:09

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Disney in 1983 was worth more sold for parts than run as a company. Full answer

  3. Where Did Future Filmmakers Learn Disney Animation? at 9:07

    David Rosenthal says Disney animation was floundering while future filmmakers learned the craft of Disney animation in a small basement room at the California… Full answer

  4. When Was Disney's 1984 Boardroom Coup? at 11:16

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal place Disney's boardroom coup on September 7th, 1984. Roy E. Full answer

  5. Why Did Eisner and Wells Raise Disney Park Prices? at 20:44

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Michael Eisner and Frank Wells raised ticket and parking prices at Disneyland and Disney World because those prices had… Full answer

  6. Why Did Disney Cartoons Become Broadway Musicals? at 28:25

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Jeffrey Katzenberg turned Disney cartoons into Broadway musicals that happened to be animated, and that switch made the… Full answer

  7. How Did Beauty and the Beast Bring Disney Animation Back? at 32:21

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Beauty and the Beast lit up the box office and showed Disney Animation was back. Full answer

  8. Why Did Disney Put Its Classics on VHS? at 38:49

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say that until 1985 there was no way to watch a Disney film outside a theater. Full answer

  9. How Much Has the Lion King Musical Made? at 45:56

    David Rosenthal says the Lion King musical has grossed over $11 billion in total revenue, and calls the run the single highest grossing entertainment product… Full answer

  10. Why Did Euro Disney Lose Money for Years? at 50:11

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Euro Disney cost $4 billion to develop and lost money for years. Full answer

  11. How Did Frank Wells Die? at 54:26

    David Rosenthal says Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter crash while heliskiing on Easter Sunday, 1994, the first of three huge blows that hit Disney in… Full answer

  12. How Did DreamWorks Compete With Disney? at 58:35

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal describe DreamWorks, with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, as a full-stack Disney competitor. Full answer

  13. Why Do Cable Companies Pay ESPN? at 1:07:42

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say ESPN invented a second revenue line for cable networks: the affiliate fee. Full answer

  14. How Much of Disney Profit Came From Cable? at 1:15:23

    Ben Gilbert says Disney's cable networks segment accounted for 60% of the entire company's operating income from 2008 to 2011, and analysts believe three… Full answer

  15. Why Did Michael Eisner Turn Down AOL? at 1:18:10

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say one of the best things Michael Eisner did as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, other than buying ESPN, was the deal he… Full answer

  16. What Book Does the Save Disney Campaign Open With? at 1:31:02

    Ben Gilbert reads from Ride of a Lifetime, Bob Iger's book, as the Save Disney campaign begins. The resignation letter was a blistering three-page critique. Full answer

  17. Why Did Comcast Try to Buy Disney? at 1:35:46

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Comcast, the Philadelphia cable company, made a hostile bid to buy Disney for $54 billion in Comcast stock. Full answer

  18. How Did Bob Iger Win the Disney CEO Job? at 1:41:35

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Bob Iger won by refusing to defend the past. Full answer

  19. Why Did Bob Iger Lose Faith in Disney Animation? at 1:51:03

    Ben Gilbert says Bob Iger, during his CEO audition process, had completely lost faith that Disney animation can be fixed from within. Full answer

  20. Why Did George Lucas Sell the Group That Became Pixar? at 1:59:41

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say George Lucas sold the graphics group because he was getting divorced and needed cash. Full answer

  21. Why Do Toy Story Animators Move the Body First? at 2:09:53

    Ben Gilbert says Toy Story animators work frame by frame on the bodies first and only later on the faces. Full answer

  22. How Long Did Each Toy Story Frame Take to Render? at 2:11:49

    Ben Gilbert says each frame of Toy Story took an hour or two to render, and Pixar could render only three and a half minutes of footage per week. Full answer

  23. Why Did Michael Eisner Want Finding Nemo to Fail? at 2:27:01

    David Rosenthal says Michael Eisner wanted Finding Nemo to fail because a flop would give Disney more negotiating leverage over Pixar. Full answer

  24. Why Did Disney's Board Approve Buying Pixar? at 2:34:07

    The Disney board forgot to say no because buying Pixar was unthinkable. Full answer

  25. Was Disney's Pixar Acquisition a Success? at 2:44:12

    Ben Gilbert says the Pixar acquisition, twenty years on, is an obvious giant success. The first reason is that it clearly saved Disney Animation. Full answer

  26. What Is Disney's Biggest Bet? at 2:46:08

    Ben Gilbert says Disney+ is the biggest strategic bet Disney has made in the last decade. All of the chips are on Disney+ for the future of Disney. Full answer

  27. Why Did Disney Buy Marvel for $4 Billion? at 2:49:30

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Disney bought Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, and the price looked contrarian. Full answer

  28. Why Did Disney Buy Lucasfilm? at 2:52:33

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for another $4 billion, the same kind of bet as Marvel. Full answer

  29. How Did ESPN Pay for Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm? at 2:56:52

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say ESPN paid for Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Full answer

  30. Why Did Disney Pull Its Movies Off Netflix? at 3:09:10

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Disney announced an ESPN streaming service for 2018 and a Disney streaming service for 2019, and in the same announcement… Full answer

  31. How Much Did Disney Really Pay for Fox? at 3:15:28

    David Rosenthal says the real price of the Fox assets Disney kept was about $44 billion. Full answer

  32. Why Did Disney Plus Open the Disney Vault? at 3:19:15

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say Disney Plus opened the Disney Vault. Full answer

  33. Why Did Ben Gilbert Doubt Disney Plus? at 3:25:35

    David Rosenthal quotes Ben Gilbert from the end of Acquired's 2019 Disney Plus episode, where Gilbert's one reason to doubt Disney Plus was that he thought… Full answer

  34. How Fast Did Disney Plus Reach 100 Million Subscribers? at 3:35:59

    David Rosenthal says Disney Plus reached 100 million subscribers in 16 months. Full answer

  35. How Many People Visit Disney Parks Each Year? at 3:47:13

    Ben Gilbert says 145 million people visit the Disney parks each year. Full answer

  36. Why Do Disney Parks Need a Streaming Service? at 4:01:02

    Ben Gilbert argues that Disney parks need a widely available streaming service because it is the only way to put franchises like Encanto in front of the… Full answer

  37. Will Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars Keep Fueling Disney? at 4:11:43

    Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal split on how long Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm can keep feeding Disney. Full answer

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