Swot Analysis Of Walt Disney Company

Submitted By kornsveta
Words: 1456
Pages: 6

Abstract The Walt Disney Company has been able to gain recognition and is known across the world through its Disney movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo just to name a few. The company was also able to make a name for itself through amusement parks and resorts, cruise lines, merchandise and media networks. Throughout this paper we will take a look at the company’s life cycle, competitive forces against its competitors through a SWOT analysis, we’ll also be taking a look at the company’s financial data and historical trend. From there, we will determine whether the Walt Disney Company is a good company to invest in or whether one should sell their stock or hold.

Walt Disney Company was founded by two brothers, Walt and Roy Disney in 1923, as a child Walt was always drawing, he used it as a way to escape from the world. His first successful cartoon was a reel by the name of Alice Comedies. But it wasn’t until 1928 when Walt began to see real success, and he owed it all to a cartoon character that up to this day is world renown; Mickey Mouse, previously known as Mortimer Mouse. Mickey Mouse made his first appearance through cartoon by the name of Steamboat Willie. With the success of this cartoon, Walt was able to venture forth and develop full length motion pictures. His first one being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As time went on, Disney continued to venture out and invest in new territories outside of movies; his next success was broadcasting and television. He saw an opportunity and took it during the 1950’s when people weren’t going out as much but staying in and spending quality time with the family. The company seemed to be doing well up into the late 1960s with TV series and movies like Bambi, Dumbo, and Pinocchio. Unfortunately, he died in 1966 and the next decade for the company would be full of challenges because no one was able to meet Walt’s creativeness. It wasn’t until the new CEO, Mike Gisner who many compared to Disney that the company began to get out of the slump they were in. Gisner began to expand the company through various investment opportunities. The company went from producing movies and TV shows to creating amusement parks like Disneyland in Los Angeles and Disneyworld in Orlando. They also began selling home videos, Disney merchandise, had ownership in sports teams like the Mighty Ducks and Angels as well as coming out with their own cruise lines. By diversifying its markets, the company and its subsidiaries were able to cover a wide variety of products which were separated into four segments; studio entertainment, consumer products, media network and Parks & resorts. Today, the company combined with its subsidiaries is said to be one of the world’s largest organizations. “The additions to the Disney portfolio during the latter half of the decade turned an already sprawling empire into a multifaceted entertainment conglomerate of mind-boggling proportions” (Answers.com). By the start of the new millennium, the life cycle of the company had reached a mature stage, it was still bringing in sales, but at a slower pace due to the fact that the majority of Disney’s target audiences were children ranging up to the age of 13. Taking a look at the company’s current financial statements will show that the company is stable. Taking a look at the past 5 years of financial data for the company, you’ll see that it’s revenues have only been increasing. Back in 2006 the company’s total revenues was $33,747,000. When we break that down into the main segments you’ll be able to see how each one of them did individually. The media networks alone grossed $14,039,000 followed by the parks and resorts with $9,925,000, studio entertainment brought in $7,529,000 and consumer products gave $1,869,000. Last year’s revenues were higher grossing a total of $38,063,000 in revenue, Media networks and park & resorts bringing in the most revenues with