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Conversations From the Corner Office
COMPANY HISTORY
The Walt Disney Company
Walt E. Disney and his brother Roy formed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923 but changed the company's name to the Walt Disney Studio in 1929 at Roy's suggestion. Walt featured Mickey Mouse for the first time in his short animated film called Steamboat Willie. During the 1930's the company, released its first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which became the highest grossing film during that time.
The company struggled financially during the 1940's because the company lost access to foreign markets during World War II. The Walt Disney Studio still managed to release Pinocchio and Fantasia, masterpieces that weren't able to immediately recover their production costs; Dumbo, produced on a low budget; and Bambi, an expensive production. In 1950, the Walt Disney Studio had three success stories: Treasure Island, the company's first live action film; Cinderella; and its first television show at Christmas time. In 1952, it also debut its first weekly television series on ABC. In 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim. In 1964, Walt Disney released Mary Poppins, which combined live action, animation, and animatronics.
Walt Disney aspired to open another amusement park and purchased 28,000 of land in Orlando, Florida. He died of cancer in 1966 without even starting his project. In 1971, Roy Disney fulfilled Walt's amusement park dream by opening a Disneyland-style theme park, which he named Walt Disney World in honor of his brother.
Michael Eisner became the company's CEO in 1984. In 1986, the company was renamed the Walt Disney Company. Since then, the company has opened a Disneyland in Tokyo and merged with Capital Cities/ABC. This media merge gave Disney the ABC television network along with 10 TV stations, 21 radio stations, seven daily newspapers, and ownership positions in cable networks A&E, Lifetime, History Channel, and ESPN.
In the fall of 2005, Bob Iger was named CEO of the Walt Disney Company. Iger had been president of Walt Disney International since 1999. Before that he was president and chief operating officer for ABC.
In 2006, the company acquired Pixar Animation Studios.
RELATED LINKS
PRESIDENT AND CEO
The Walt Disney Company history
CORPORATE WEBSITE: The Walt Disney Company
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