The Walt Disney Company is a multinational media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world’s largest independent media conglomerate in terms of revenue.

The company was founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before officially changing its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986.

The company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused on theater, radio, music, publishing and online media.

The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1991. In August 1995, Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC Inc.

parent of both ABC and ESPN networks whereupon it became a dual-listed company—Disney held onto both networks while spinning off assets not related to broadcasting or sports management at that time as ABC Inc.In 2001, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4 billion from George Lucas.

Last modified: October 30, 2022