The Walt Disney Company

In the history of the Walt Disney Company they have had numerous key moments. One such example would be when WED Enterprises were formed to design what became Disneyland, this then lead the Disney Company into building many theme parks across the world making them a multinational media company. Another example would be, in 1979 the Disney Company launched ESPN television channel which spurred Disney’s interests in television to another level. Disney was so interested in the television industry they then expanded there portfolio by purchasing Capital Cities and ABC. As a result of Disney buying all of these different companies they became a cross media company. This is because they are operating in all aspects of media such as Publishing, news, internet, radio and TV.

Through Diversification and Horizontal Integration Disney drastically increased their profits and expanded their company into different products that are similar to the current lines that Disney worked in. Disney has now become a multinational media conglomerate owning Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Cable Television networks such as ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN and ABC Family and they also own 14 theme parks across the world, Online Media and Publishing which is why it is worth $35 billion.

Disney has come under criticism from Religious welfare groups, such as the Catholic League, have spoken out against the release of material which they and others found offensive. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the American Family Association voted to boycott Disney over opposition to the Disney offering domestic partnership benefits to gay employees and over opposition to the ABC show Ellen, in which Ellen DeGeneres' character came out as a lesbian; both boycotts were withdrawn in 2005. Disney has also been criticized for racial stereotyping of characters such as Aladdin and The Lion King. Disney then received and took criticism of racial / cultural stereotyping and made a film that would be accepted by all cultures called Pocahontas.

Disney has politically contributed through financial contributions to Barack Obama's campaign, he received more than any other from Disney in 2008, nearly a quarter of a million dollars, but Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Christopher Dodd, and Rudolph Giuliani all also received tens of thousands. In my opinion Disney are a very successful company and they have a very wide target audience which I think has been partly the key to their success .If Disney has the money to buy a smaller business out then I think its ok for them to do that as long as they have the amount of money that is asked for. Even though Disney has a lot of racial and sexual references in their films, people do not notice these as they are not looking for them, as I personally have not noticed anything as such until they were pointed out. JW.