Two of its most controversial purchases—Lucasfilm Ltd. and Marvel Entertainment—have more than proven their worth, according to Disney.
In just over two short weeks, the Walt Disney Company will face a moment of truth when it comes to its current battle with activist investor Nelson Peltz. The company has been fighting off Peltz’s criticisms and attempting to prove to shareholders that it has its business strategy down.
One of the ways the company has done this recently was to demonstrate the massive profits two risky purchases brought in.
As The Hollywood Reporter shared, “Disney indicates that it has seen a 2.9 times and 3.3 times return on investment after purchasing Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios in 2012 and 2009, respectively.” The information was obtained from a presentation shared on the shareholder campaign website Vote Disney.
Let’s break down these numbers.
What Does a 2.9 and 3.3 Times Return Actually Amount To?
In 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion for Lucasfilm. With this purchase, two big franchises, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, came under the Disney umbrella.
Since then, with all of the Star Wars releases and the IP used in theme park attractions, Disney asserts that Lucasfilm has “generated nearly $12 billion in value to the company.”
What about the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Disney bought Marvel in 2009, also for $4 billion. Citing the four Avengers movies and its theme park IP once again, Disney suggests that Marvel Entertainment has provided $13.2 billion in value to Disney.
It’s clear that these two investments, while questioned immensely by fans and shareholders alike, albeit for very different reasons, have more than proven their value to Disney.
Even though fans are uncertain if Disney has actually done justice to these franchises, from a business perspective, Disney is most likely going to keep producing more content within these revenue streams.
It will be interesting to see what April 3 brings for the Walt Disney Company.