| Walt Disney or Walter Elias Disney ( born on 5 December 1901 and died on 15 December 1966) - American animator, director, screenwriter, actor, entrepreneur and producer and founder of “Walt Disney Productions” which is now turned into media empire «The Walt Disney Company».
Walt Disney was born on 5th December 1901 in Chicago. English, Irish and Germans can be found among his ancestors. In 1906 Disneys shifted to rancho in Missouri, and in 1910 they have gone to Kansas City.
On 15 December 1966 after many years of chain smoking cigarettes Disney died in Los Angeles of lung cancer.
The Walt Disney Company - one among the largest corporations of entertainment industry in the world. Founded on 16 October 1923 by Disney brothers- Walter and Roy, a small animation studio is now one among biggest Hollywood studios, and is owner of 11 theme parks, 2 aqua parks and also a chain of broadcasting companies, among them is ABC, American Broadcasting Corporation.
Headquarters of Walt Disney Company and its main manufacturing facilities producing divisions are concentrated in Walt Disney Studios in Berbank, California, USA.
Walt Disney Company is listed in Dow-Jones. Market capitalization as on 20th November 2006 is about $69 billion.
Entertainment division
Original and the only one business of the company up to 1955 were motion pictures.
The division is also known as Walt Disney Studios includes motion and animation pictures, sound recording brands and a range of Broadway’s theatre spectacles. Starting from 2002 this division led by Dick Cook.
Motion pictures
Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group is a group of main picture studios of Walt Disney which includes
* Walt Disney Pictures
* Touchstone Pictures
* Hollywood Pictures
* Miramax Films
Sound recording brands
* Buena Vista Music Group
* Walt Disney Records
* Mammoth Records
* Lyric Street Records
* Hollywood Records
Theatre
* Walt Disney Theatrical
* Hyperion Theatrical (not under “Disney” brand)
Animation
* Walt Disney Feature Animation
* Walt Disney Television Animation
* Disney Toon Studios
* Pixar Animation Studios
Parks and resorts
Besides theme parks (Disney Land) and resorts the above division has Disney Regional Entertainment (a range of sport restaurants ESPN Zone belongs this), Walt Disney Imagineering and Walt Disney Creative Entertainment.
Broadcasting Channels
* Walt Disney Television
* Touchstone Television
* ABC Entertainment
* ABC Television Network
* Buena Vista Television
* ESPN
* SOAPnet
* Lifetime
Walt Disney Company has a number of pay cables including The Disney Channel, ABC Family, Toon Disney, chain ESPN channels. And SOAPnet. Disney has significant shares of Lifetime Television (50 %), A&E Network (37.5 %), E! (40 %) and Jetix Europe N.V. (74 %).
Through American broadcasting company ABC, Disney controls 10 local TV stations, 26 local radio stations and also ESPN Radio и Radio Disney. Buena Vista Television produces TV shows like «Who Wants to Be a Millionaire», «Live with Regis and Kelly»and «Ebert & Roeper».
Disney owns Hyperion publishing house and also internet - division Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) with web sites Go.com, Disney.com, ESPN.com, ABCNews.com и Movies.com.
Consumer goods
* Disney Publishing Worldwide
* Disney Store
* Jim Henson's Muppets
* Buena Vista Games
Operational numbers
Earnings in financial year closed at on 30th September 2006 compiled of $34,3 billion ( last year- $32,9 billion ) , net profit - $3,4 billion ( $2,5b ).
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Today is the birthday of The Walt Disney Company. On October 16, 1923 two brothers Walt and Roy Disney founded the company as a small animation studio, laying the first brick in building the mighty Disney empire, which is now one of the biggest Hollywood studios, owns eleven theme parks and several TV networks including the ABC channel. The Walt Disney Company is part of the Dow Jones Industrial Index.
In their small animation studio, setup in a garage, Walt Disney created his first cartoon characters - Mickey Mouse and Goofy, which were destined to become part of the animation history, and are loved by the kids all over the world.
