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Disney deal draws a new picture of M&A
Walt Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment represents the sort of deal that the global financial crisis has almost silenced.
The New Lawyer
WALT Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment represents the sort of deal that the global financial crisis has almost silenced.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Disney has admitted it was happy to pay the premium for the creator of Spiderman, Daredevil and other popular comics because it liked the company and wanted the assets.
In ordinary times this would be a common strategy. But these are extraordinary times. Until Disney announced its bit for Marvel yesterday (31 August), August had been the slowest month for M&A deal volume since Dealogic, the researcher, had started keeping records in 1995, the WSJ's Deal Journal reports.
"And many of this year's deals have bee driven by the interests of near-term survival not primarily by long-term growth," WSJ reports.
“This was a company that we admired that we saw growing right before our eyes, that we were impressed with,’” Disney chief Bob Iger told investors during a conference call Monday.
“So it was not driven by anything other than continued interest in what Marvel is and what they have done and a continued desire at this company to look for great creativity, great creative people, great intellectual property.”
