The Walt Disney Corporation has paid $4 billion to buy Marvel Entertainment, meaning that Spiderman will waltz with Minnie Mouse, and Captain America will be on nodding terms with Bambi.
Disney will pay for Marvel in a mixture of cash and stock and indicates two things. One is that there’s consolidation afoot in the entertainment business and the second is large corporations are opening their coffers and spending.
The deal will be completed by the end of this year.
It also opens up a completely different audience to Disney, which still has a reputation of being quite pink and fluffy. It’s not clear at press time how Disney will sort out existing deals Marvel has with competitors such as News Corp or Sony Entertainment.
The CEO of Marvel believes Disney is a perfect spot for its gallery of heroes and superheros to live, and Disney will make money out of licenses for the different characters and for the film rights.
