Disney + Marvel? =O

1. Includes a link to the article.
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14376422

2. Includes a short summary of the article.
Walt Disney buys Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in what they will hope will be a successful merger of their companies. Disney hopes to have 'something for everyone' and attract new customers with their new addition of Marvel characters.

3. Identifies the topic(s) from our syllabus that the article covers.
1.7 Growth and Evolution

4. Applies one business tool/theory/technique to the organization.
1.7 Growth and Evolution

Walt Disney had just brought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion on August 31st. This merger was a good move as mentioned in the article (“Marrying Marvel’s characters with Disney’s talent for making money from successful franchises is a good idea”), but I personally believe that it is too late a move. In my opinion, Disney should have merged with Marvel Entertainment at an earlier date when comic-book movies were initially on the rise.

However, by buying Marvel Entertainment, Disney is saying that it is interested in having access to Marvel’s stash of 5,000 established characters, a good reason for the merger since it will now allow them to attract more age groups (especially the pre-teen and teen boys) and thus expand financially. Disney now has the right to use these characters as they wish. Not only that, but by buying out another entertainment company, Disney will eliminate competition (it already has Pixar joined with it).

Like Stan Lee says in the article, "the Disney-Marvel merger will prove “a terrific deal which will be extremely beneficial to both companies. The synergy between them is perfect.”"