Episode 26: Marvel

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2016

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Topics covered include:

Marvel’s corporate origins as "Timely Publications”, created in 1939 by pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman in NYC, with the publication of Marvel Comics #1
Creation of enduring characters such as Captain America, the Fantastic 4, Spider Man, The X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk and more
Adoption in 1961 of the "Marvel Comics” brand, and writer-editor Stan Lee’s transition of the company towards focusing on edgier characters and stories targeted at older audiences
Marvel’s first sale in 1968 to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation (later Cadence Industries)
The company’s “turbulent” corporate history through the 1980’s and associated mergers, acquisitions and lawsuits
Marvel’s reinvention as a film-focused media company in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s with the launch of Marvel Studios
Disney’s ultimate acquisition of the company for $4.2 billion in August 2009, during the depth of the great recession
Marvel's—and in particular Marvel Studios’—performance since the acquisition

Sponsors:
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta

Statsig: bit.ly/statsigacquired
Modern Treasury: https://bit.ly/acquiredmoderntreasury

Followups:

People like Spectacles!

Hot Takes:

Shoutout to Hightower & VTS merging

The Carve Out:

Ben: Westworld
David: Overdrive

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	All right
0:02.0	to start the show today, we are going to play a little game of Two Truths and a Lie.
0:06.0	Today's episode will be covering the Marvel acquisition by Disney,
0:10.0	and we are going to throw out the Two Truths and A Lie right now, and we are going to throw out the two truths and a lie right now and we will tell you which one is a lie at the end of acquisition history and facts.
0:19.0	So get ready to predict.
0:21.0	Number one, for a brief stretch ending in an internal Time Warner investigation,
0:26.4	the president of DC Comics acquired a large position in Marvel stock. Number two, famed corporate raider and comic book villain Carl icon once made a play to gain control
0:38.7	of Marvel from bankruptcy.
0:41.8	Number three, Marvel owned Fleer, the Baseball Card Company, and was affected in a huge way by the
0:47.8	1994 Major League Baseball Strike, which is the lie, you be the judge.
0:53.0	Who got the truth?
0:55.0	Is it you, is it you, is it you, is it you, who got the truth now?
1:00.0	Is it you, is it You, is it you?
1:03.0	Sit me down, say it straight, another story on the way.
1:08.0	Who got the truth?
1:10.0	Welcome back to episode 26 of Acquired,
1:13.7	the podcast about technology acquisitions.
1:16.4	I'm Ben Gilbert.
1:17.6	I'm David Rosenthal.
1:18.9	And we are your hosts.
1:20.6	Today's episode is Disney's 2009 acquisition of Marvel.
1:25.0	It really completes the saga for us here it acquired
	...

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