What Are Disney’s Biggest Deals Ever?
Recently, we learned that Disney’s Hulu acquisition has paid even greater dividends than anyone had realized.
A streaming service updated, revealing that several Hulu titles are consistently among the most watched programs overall.
![Disney+/Hulu](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-disney-plus-hulu-beta-testing2-e1709934098697.png)
![Disney+/Hulu](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-disney-plus-hulu-beta-testing2-e1709934098697.png)
Photo: Disney+
At this point, the light went on for many people about how dominant Hulu is as a business.
Once again, Disney CEO Bob Iger has pulled a rabbit from his magic hat, and this latest triumph has people thinking.
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/240403-Bob-Iger-ew-412p-5d1ef7.webp)
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/240403-Bob-Iger-ew-412p-5d1ef7.webp)
NBC News
What are Disney’s biggest deals? Since we’re not adjusting for inflation, all of them have happened over the past 30 years.
Also, each one set the company back at least a couple billion dollars. Here’s the list.
8) BAMTech — $3.8 billion
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![Streaming](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bobigerdisneyceo1689256556868.jpg)
Photo: English Jargon
While people stream everything today, you may not know that the industry’s origins stem from live sports broadcasting.
As you’re about to see, some things haven’t changed over the years, and Americans’ collective love for competition drives industry.
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Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
While Netflix claims the lion’s share of the credit for the advent of streaming, Major League Baseball (!) secretly holds that title.
During the internet gold rush of the late 1990s and early 2000s, developers attempted to compress video file sizes small enough to distribute.
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Photo:E!online
Remember that many people were still using baud modems or AOL connections at the time.
MLB.tv cracked the code enough to broadcast a game in 2002.
![How to Play Football](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/How-to-Play-Football.jpg)
![How to Play Football](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/How-to-Play-Football.jpg)
Photo: D23
Over the next 14 years, it expanded its live sports streaming savvy, intriguing Disney enough to invest in 2016.
By 2022, Disney had purchased the entirety of BAMTech and used it as the engine for Disney+.
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Photo:cnet.com
While the limitations of BAMTech have revealed themselves recently – it wasn’t designed for tens of millions of users – Disney owns the pioneering streaming service.
7) Marvel Entertainment — $4 billion
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![feige](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/165182_RH8_9724-e1662953285680.jpg)
Image Credit: The Walt Disney Company; Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios
There’s not much to say here that you don’t already know.
Marvel Entertainment faced bankruptcy in the 1990s and eventually rebuilt its entire operation on the fly.
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Photo: Syfy.com
As one strategy, Marvel stopped licensing its characters to film studios, instead producing its own titles.
Once Disney recognized the value of that idea in combination with its own merchandising might, Iger identified a perfect fit.
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![Hank Pym Michael Douglas](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-16-at-20-47-12-Ant-Man-and-The-Wasp-Quantumania-—-Unpacking-Hank-Pyms-Ant-Obsession.png)
Photo: Marvel
Disney purchased Marvel for what seems like a trifling amount of money in hindsight. And the results speak for themselves.
Perhaps the only negative of the Marvel Entertainment acquisition is that its former owner, Isaac Perlmutter, became a massive Disney shareholder.
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![X-Men '97 Gambit](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-12-at-12-38-24-x-men-97-gambit-action.jpg-WEBP-Image-1284-×-856-pixels-—-Scaled-62.png)
Photo: Marvel
Let’s just say that Perlmutter and Iger don’t follow each other’s socials.
6) Lucasfilm — $4.05 billion
Here’s a similarly lucrative deal, albeit with a funny anecdote.
After Marvel exploded in popularity, George Lucas warmed to the idea of selling his life’s work to Disney as well.
Again, the fit made perfect sense, with Lucas having loved Disneyland as a child and worked with Disney on Star Tours.
By the time Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened 35 years ago, Lucas and Disney were close enough to create an Indiana Jones experience together.
![bob iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-apple-vision-pro-bob-iger-disney-plus-4.jpg)
![bob iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-apple-vision-pro-bob-iger-disney-plus-4.jpg)
Photo: DIsney+
Later, Disney introduced another, giving us the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! and Indiana Jones Adventure.
Once Lucas was ready to cash in his chips and call it a career, he contacted Iger, who happily threw billions at his friend.
![George Lucas](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/gettyimages-1401640350-612x612-2.jpg)
![George Lucas](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/gettyimages-1401640350-612x612-2.jpg)
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Museum of Modern Art )
Lucas had one request/demand/expectation. He had to get more for Lucasfilm than Disney had paid for Marvel.
In his defense, Star Wars was everything in pop culture in the 1980s and 1990s. Marvel didn’t have its hot streak until 2008.
You can understand Lucas’ position here.
5) Fox Family — $5.3 billion
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Fox
Technically, this one’s a two-fer, but it underscores how Disney has cultivated a mutually beneficial relationship with Fox of all places.
Politically, socially, and culturally, the people running these two businesses have little in common…except for a love of money.
![Fox Searchlight](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-04-at-07-48-35-Film-News-Roundup-Fox-Searchlight-Launches-Searchlight-Shorts.png)
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Photo: 20th Century
During the early 2000s, Fox Corp believed that its kids programming lineup had run its course.
Similarly, Fox Family, a cable network, was struggling to maintain popularity.
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![20th Century Fox](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20th-Century-Fox.jpg)
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Disney, whose core businesses prioritize women and children, locked onto the idea of grabbing an asset or two.
Fox sold Disney Fox Family Worldwide and the interconnected Saban Entertainment for $3 billion, plus the acquisition of $2.3 billion in debt.
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![Wall Street](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/im-113163.jpg)
Image: The Wall Street Journal
In the process, Disney added a cable channel with a reach of 81 million to its existing lineup of heavyweights.
As an aside, this deal wasn’t particularly popular at the time and was arguably former CEO Michael Eisner’s final big deal.
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Freeform
To this day, Disney still owns Fox Family, although you know it as Freeform.
The Saban Entertainment part of the deal doesn’t get mentioned as much these days, but it added a staggering number of titles to Disney’s library.
![X-Men](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2000-x-men-movie.jpeg)
![X-Men](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2000-x-men-movie.jpeg)
Photo: Fox
One of them is…X-Men: The Animated Series. Yes, without this deal, we wouldn’t have X-Men ’97.
4) Pixar — $7.4 billion
![Bob Iger 2024 Shareholder Meeting](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/bob-iger-2024-shareholder-meeting-e1712695725310.jpeg)
![Bob Iger 2024 Shareholder Meeting](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/bob-iger-2024-shareholder-meeting-e1712695725310.jpeg)
Bob Iger – 2024 Annual Shareholder Meeting
When Bob Iger became Disney CEO, the company was in a much different place.
Roy O. Disney’s son/Walt Disney’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, had publicly feuded with Michael Eisner.
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/75.webp)
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/75.webp)
(Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Disney)
Ultimately, Eisner lost the support of Disney’s Board of Directors and Wall Street, leaving Iger to get the CEO job, almost by default.
While Iger’s biography suggests that he worried he would get passed over, that didn’t happen.
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/disney-1.jpg.webp)
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/disney-1.jpg.webp)
Photo: Disney CEO Bob Iger (Getty Images)
Once the new CEO held the job, he realized he had to make a splashy move…and fast!
So, Iger did the least plausible thing in that moment. He reached out to Apple’s Steve Jobs, whose support Eisner had lost.
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/disney-1.jpg.webp)
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/disney-1.jpg.webp)
Photo: Getty
Iger pitched a provocative idea: Disney purchasing Pixar. At the time, Disney had lost the distribution rights for Pixar films.
For this reason, nobody expected anything like this particular deal. So, Iger and Jobs sketched out the pros and cons.
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-24-at-7.03.27-AM.png)
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-24-at-7.03.27-AM.png)
Image: The Wall Street Journal
Ultimately, the cons vastly outweighed the pros, but they admired the strength of the pros more. So, the CEOs agreed to the deal.
Society is all the better for the transaction, as Pixar embarked on a slate of groundbreaking stories like Up and WALL-E.
Iger and Jobs also developed a tight-knit relationship, one still paying dividends more than a decade after Jobs’ death.
3) Hulu — $8.6 billion (and counting)
The latest batch of Nielsen streaming ratings reveals a previously unknown story.
Apparently, Hulu hosts many of the most popular Acquired series on streaming. The Acquired chart shows Hulu’s dominance.
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![Disney Super Bowl](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Untitled-design-26.png)
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
This is the information Disney possessed that made Bob Iger’s decision for him.
Iger could have either sold two-thirds of Hulu to Comcast for $20+ billion, or he could have paid Comcast at least $8.6 billion.
![Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/gettyimages-456918432-594x594-1.jpg)
![Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/gettyimages-456918432-594x594-1.jpg)
(Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
Iger chose the latter because he understands that Hulu is the rarest of rare things in business: the so-called kingmaker asset.
Disney’s future streaming plans hinge on the interconnected nature of Hulu and Disney+ and, eventually, ESPN+.
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![Disney Hulu](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Disney-Hulu.jpg)
Photo: Disney
At some point in the future, Disney will have abandoned the linear network television model entirely.
On that date, Disney will have reinvented its former cable television dominance via streaming services.
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Image Credit: Disney
When that day comes, Disney will no longer share revenue with third parties. Instead, it’ll claim all the money for itself.
Everything about this deal makes sense, although we still don’t know how much it cost Disney.
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![Hulu](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Hulu-tv.jpg)
Photo: THIERRY CHESNOT/GETTY IMAGES
Comcast agreed to a unique bargaining deal wherein arbitration will determine how much more Disney pays beyond the initial $8.6 billion.
That total could add several billion more…but it’s still worthwhile for Disney.
2) Capital Cities/ABC — $19 billion
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![Stock](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Disney-Wall-Street2.jpg)
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File
Here’s the unheralded heavyweight of the entire Disney empire…and for myriad reasons.
During the early 1990s, Eisner accepted that Disney didn’t hold a large enough footprint in linear television.
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![Donald Duck Walk of Fame](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Donald-DUck-Walk-of-Fame-e1691548046936.jpg)
(AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Eisner targeted a kind of media consolidation whose brilliance is undeniable.
At the time, a business report stated:
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![Eisner](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Michael-Eisner-Disney.jpeg)
Photo Credit: Michael Eisner via Twitter @Michael_Eisner
“In one stroke, Disney would become the largest among the handful of global entertainment goliaths, including Time Warner Inc. and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp…”
You’ll notice that those three companies remain heavyweights to this day, and that’s the thing about forward-thinking purchases.
![Bob Iger 2023 Shareholder Meeting](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/bob-iger-2023-shareholder-scaled.jpeg)
![Bob Iger 2023 Shareholder Meeting](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/bob-iger-2023-shareholder-scaled.jpeg)
Bob Iger – 2023 Annual Shareholder Meeting
The best ways continue to impact the bottom line decades later, something Bob Iger knows as well.
What he’s doing with Disney+ and Hulu right now sets the course for Disney into the 2050s.
Eisner did that in 1995, when he bought ABC and got ESPN as part of the package.
In a rather odd twist, Eisner also accidentally brought in Iger, the person who would ultimately take his job.
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/iger-view-01-abc-jt-190923_hpMain_4x3t_992.jpg)
![Bob Iger](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/iger-view-01-abc-jt-190923_hpMain_4x3t_992.jpg)
Heidi Gutman/Walt Disney Television
At the time, Iger was the President and COO of Capital Cities.
As he explains in his biography, he hated this deal and considered quitting afterward.
Disney fans are fortunate that he stayed as Iger’s fingerprints are all over most of the other deals on this list.
1) 21st Century Fox — $71.3 billion
![fees, resort guests, resorts, parking, fee](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Disney-Money-Mickey-Head-Costs-Prices-Higher-Washington-Post-Credit.jpg)
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Photo: Washington Post
Finally, we have the TBD of the list, Disney’s acquisition of Fox.
As a reminder, Disney didn’t initially agree to pay $71.3 billion for this transaction.
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Photo: skillastics.com
Instead, Fox and Disney originally settled on a price of $52.4 billion, paid in stock.
Comcast didn’t like that deal and provided Fox’s Board of Directors with a higher one, forcing Disney to raise its price.
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![dollars](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/gettyimages-157191340-612x612-1.jpg)
Photo: Getty
You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who disliked the deal for Disney at $52.4 billion.
Some people do consider $71.3 billion too much, though. During a recent activist investor battle, this deal was often cited.
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![](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Family-Guy.jpg)
FAMILY GUY: The Griffins celebrate the holidays in the special one-hour “Road To The North Pole” episode of FAMILY GUY airing Sunday, Dec. 12 (8:30-9:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
However, Disney acquired many of the assets that have turned Hulu into a powerhouse.
We’re talking about Family Guy, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, and (especially) The Simpsons.
Disney has also gained some popular film franchises that will anchor its theatrical slate in 2024.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Alien: Romulus will both debut later this year.
![Avatar The Way of Water](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Untitled-design-26-1024x536.png)
![Avatar The Way of Water](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Untitled-design-26-1024x536.png)
Photo: Disney/Everett Collection
Of course, Disney has already demonstrated the value of its Fox assets with Avatar: The Way of Water.
The James Cameron film has already become one of the three most successful titles ever, with three sequels on the way.
![Jake Sully with his child avatar way of water](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/avatar-way-of-water-20th-1024x576.jpg)
![Jake Sully with his child avatar way of water](https://mickeyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/avatar-way-of-water-20th-1024x576.jpg)
Source: 20th Century Studios
Still, at this hefty price, the Fox purchase will take several years to pay for itself.
In a quarter-century, business analysts will remember it quite favorably, though, just like with Capital Cities/ABC.
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Feature Photo: Hulu