Disney said it would buy Pixar for about $7.4 billion, aiming to strengthen its animation business and repair a strained partnership. The deal signaled a strategy of owning major creative studios instead of relying only on distribution agreements.
Disney completed its Pixar purchase, bringing Pixar into Walt Disney Studios. This gave Disney long-term control of a leading computer-animation studio and expanded its pipeline of films and characters for global licensing.
Disney announced an agreement to buy Marvel, combining Disney’s global distribution and merchandising strength with Marvel’s large library of characters. The move broadened Disney’s film and TV franchises beyond its traditional family-animation base.
Marvel shareholders approved the merger, clearing a major step toward Disney ownership. This helped set up a future in which Marvel films, series, and consumer products could be planned as part of Disney’s wider media ecosystem.
Disney announced it would acquire Lucasfilm, adding Star Wars to its portfolio. This further concentrated major film franchises under Disney and created new long-term content opportunities for movies, TV, and later streaming.
Disney bought a minority stake in BAMTech (a streaming-technology company built out of Major League Baseball’s digital unit). This gave Disney technical infrastructure for direct-to-consumer video, a key building block for later services like ESPN+ and Disney+.
Disney agreed to increase its BAMTech ownership to a controlling stake, saying it would launch an ESPN-branded streaming product in early 2018 and a Disney-branded service in 2019. This marked a clear pivot from wholesaling content to building direct subscriber relationships.
Disney announced plans to acquire key 21st Century Fox entertainment assets, including major film and TV studios and international businesses. The proposed deal aimed to expand Disney’s content library and strengthen its position as streaming competition intensified.
Disney launched ESPN+, its first major U.S. subscription streaming service, using BAMTech’s technology. ESPN+ served as an early test of Disney’s ability to run subscription video products at scale before launching Disney+.
Disney announced that its upcoming Disney-branded subscription service would be called Disney+. Naming the product was a public step toward a unified streaming brand built around Disney’s major studios and franchises.
Disney closed its acquisition of major 21st Century Fox entertainment assets, significantly expanding its film and TV holdings. The deal also increased Disney’s influence over Hulu, fitting into a broader strategy to compete in the streaming era with multiple services.
At an Investor Day presentation, Disney announced Disney+ would launch in the U.S. on November 12, 2019, priced at $6.99 per month. Disney framed the service as a core part of a broader direct-to-consumer plan that also included Hulu and ESPN+.
Disney+ officially launched, bringing Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic programming together under one subscription service. The launch turned Disney’s earlier acquisitions into a single consumer product, marking a major shift in how Disney distributed and monetized its film and TV library.
Disney acquisitions and the formation of Disney+ (2006–2019)