Marvel Entertainment, Inc. () is an
American entertainment company formed from the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. and Toy Biz, Inc.
A corporate predecessor traces its origins to the May 1933 publication of
Western Supernovel magazine. That magazine was only published for one issue before the title was changed to
Complete Western Book magazine in July 1933. The company's oldest character is
Ka-Zar, introduced in 1936. In 1939, the company began publishing comic books as
Timely Publications with
Marvel Comics #1.
On August 31, 2009,
The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, with Marvel
shareholders to receive $30 and about 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own.
History
In 1989
Ronald Perelman's
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings group of companies bought the Marvel Entertainment Group, the parent company of
Marvel Comics, from
New World Entertainment for $82.5 million.
"It is a mini-Disney in terms of intellectual property," said Perelman. "Disney's got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes. But at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters."
Boosted by a massive merchandising effort, an increase in Marvel comic prices, and an overall boom in the comic book industry, Marvel's profits spiked. Perelman later added the
baseball card and
basketball card companies
Fleer Corporation and
SkyBox International, Italian sticker manufacturer
Panini Group, and comic book publishers Welsh Publishing and
Malibu Comics to Marvel's holdings for a combined total of $700 million.
[Chuck Rozanski is a very well-known purveyor of comic books and had a walk-on role in the Marvel fiasco. ] Investors around the world recognized his efforts and generated $80 million for Perelman when he issued Marvel's
initial public offering. He later added a significant stake in
Toy Biz to Marvel's holdings. His luck was not to last. Marvel's attempt to distribute its products directly led to a decrease in sales and aggravated the losses which Marvel suffered when the
comic book bubble popped, the
1994 Major League Baseball strike massacred the profits of the Fleer division,
and Panini was hobbled by poor showings at the box office by Disney (Licensing Disney characters provided a major source of revenue for Panini, so when the movies performed poorly Panini performed poorly).
A major
bondholder,
Carl Icahn, fought to take control of the company from Perelman. Both men failed as
Toy Biz owners
Ike Perlmutter and
Avi Arad snatched Marvel from Perelman and Icahn in order to protect their own financial interests.
Estimates of his profit on the deal vary widely.
Chuck Rozanski estimates that Perelman made $200–400 million off Marvel;
thinks he made nothing;
and the judge in the Marvel bankruptcy trial estimated he made $280 million plus various tax advantages.
In December 2003, Marvel Entertainment acquired
Cover Concepts from
Hearst Communications, Inc.On March 15, 2007,
Stan Lee Media filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment for $5 billion, claiming that the company is co-owner of the characters that Lee created for Marvel. Additional, a lawsuit over the Ghost Rider Character ownership was filed On March 30, 2007 by Gary Friedrich and Gary Friedrich Enterprises, Inc.
On August 31, 2009,
The Walt Disney Company announced that it had agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock.
The deal is contingent upon approvals by Marvel shareholders and U.S. regulators.
Units
The company's operating units include:
Divisions
- Marvel Toys (formerly Toy Biz): a toy company owned by Isaac Perlmutter since the 1990s.
- Marvel Characters B.V. (The Netherlands)
- MVL International C.V. (The Netherlands)
Subsidiaries
- Marvel Characters, Inc.: intellectual property holding company;
- MVL Film Finance LLC: holder of Marvel's Movie debt and theatrical film rights to the ten characters as collateral.
- Marvel Animation: Subsidiary charge with oversight of Marvel's animation productions.
- *MVL Rights, LLC: subsidiary holding movie rights of all Marvel Characters with some on contract with MVL Film Finance
- *Iron Works Productions LLC: subsidiary holding debt to finance the Iron Man movie.
- *MVL Productions LLC: an indirect wholly owned a film development subsidiary
- *MVL Iron Works Productions Canada, Inc. (Province of Ontario)
- *MVL Incredible Productions Canada, Inc. (Province of Ontario)
- Asgard Productions LLC (Delaware)
- Green Guy Toons LLC (Delaware)
- Squad Productions LLC (Delaware)
Former units
- Welsh Publishing: comic book publishers
Past names
- Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.
