And now, here at the end of the year, a last little bit of comics history: Disney shareholders approved the purchase of Marvel Entertainment for $4.3 billion. The Associated Press reports that Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. Given Disney’s value, the … Read more
According to Wall Street sources, the Walt Disney Company will acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in stocks and cash. Comics industry observers and fans alike are already discussing the potential implications of the news, and will be for days — but at first blush, it appears to complete, in an ironic way, a … Read more
Marvel Comics celebrated its 70th anniversary — dating from the shipment of Marvel Comics #1 — on August 11 in a variety of locations, and events are continuing through this week. Some have asked how a specific date could have been fixed for a book that shipped so long ago. In truth, as I said … Read more
When Marvel took its direct market comics distribution to its own distributor, Heroes World, in 1995, it was no longer possible to look at a single distributor’s rankings to see a real top-seller list. From then until August 1996, the only public sales charts that reconciled all publishers’ titles were based on retailer reports, such … Read more
The news today that Hasbro and Discovery Networks are teaming to create a new network to showcase Hasbro properties recalled an earlier connection with comics — famously, Hasbro’s role in creating what was likely the most expensive advertising campaign for individual comic books, ever. In 1999’s Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, … Read more
Something actually went up on Wall Street: The market evidently liked what it heard in Marvel‘s quarterly report for the fourth quarter of 2008, with the stock closing up more than 15% to $27.55 after the earnings call. Marvel’s third quarterly report had topped Wall Street estimates; so, too, did this one, with Reuters reporting … Read more