t h e
f a c t s
The House of
the Mouse
From its humble beginnings in Kansas City,
the Walt Disney Company has become
one of the world’s biggest media conglomerates,
with interests from book publishing and feature films to sports and real estate.
Here we take a close look inside the House of the Mouse.
CIRCLE
OF LOOT
The Disney Company is in a neck-and-neck race with Time-Warner
to be the top player in the global media system.
FRONTIERLAND
Overseas markets will receive more attention as Disney attempts to expand its
overseas (non-US) sales. The company hopes to build foreign earnings from 23% of total
revenues in 1995 to 50% by the year 2000.
In 1997 the Disney Channel was launched bringing 24hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week programming to North Africa and the Middle East. In addition the Disney Channel broadcasts in France, Taiwan, the UK, Australia and Malaysia.3
International sales of Disney-branded products now outstrip US sales. Recently a Mickey and Friends store opened in Indonesia and a second outlet will open soon in Poland.4
Disney’s sports channel ESPN International broadcasts on a 24-hour basis in 165 countries in 21 languages.5
Disney has a 20-33% ownership in five European commercial TV companies including Tesauro SA (Spain), RTL2 and cable TM3 (Germany) and the Scandinavian Broadcasting System. It also has a 20% share in the Brazilian pay-TV company TVA.5
IT'S
A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
Disney's corporate holdings and joint ventures with other corporations
are immense and complex. Here is a partial list of the company's holdings.
CULTURE
WARS
US films as percentage of total film imports (1997)
The US movie and TV industry is the single most powerful vehicle
for the spread of an American-dominated global corporate culture. Disney
films, both animated and live-action adult fare, are a key part of it.
ATTENTION
SHOPPERS
Disney was the first company to combine successfully the notion of entertainment
with shopping.
-
In 1930 Walt’s brother Roy signed the first international licensing contract with Borgfeldt and Co for production and sale of Mickey Mouse merchandise.7
-
The first Mickey Mouse watch was sold by the Ingersoll Watch Company in June 1933.2
-
By 1954, 700 companies were making more than 3,000 Disney items from pyjamas and underwear to toys, games and school supplies.8
-
The first official Disney Store opened in Glendale, California in March 1984 and the first store outside the US in London in November 1990.
NUMBER
OF DISNEY STORES
(at 30/9/97)
Ben Bagdikian from The Media Monopoly.1
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
The Boss
Disney Chairman Michael Eisner’s current 10-year contract gives him a yearly salary
of $750,000, plus bonus up to a maximum of $15 million a year according to financial
performance, plus shares worth approximately $550-$600 million.9
Theme Park Worker
At Walt Disney World (Orlando, Florida)
Starting salary: $5.95 an hour.
After 3 years: $13,541 a year
At Disneyland (Paris, France).
Average yearly salary: $13,000 to $15,000.
Disney’s total theme park income (1997): $1.13 billion 10
Third World Worker
Contractors producing Disney-branded clothing in Haiti
Average hourly wage: 28 cents
Number of years it would take the average Haitian garment worker to earn what
Michael Eisner earns in one hour: 156.11
MICKEY
MAO(S)
- Disney is anxious to break into the potentially lucrative 1.2 billion Chinese market and
is doing all it can to build bridges with Beijing’s aging Maoists, including basing
its latest animated film, Mulan, on a Chinese legend.
- The company launched a Chinese-language radio broadcast from Hong Kong in 1996 which it
claims already reaches more than 400 million Chinese.5
- Disney’s Toy Story broke records in Shanghai attracting a million viewers out of a
13 million population and there are reportedly plans afoot to open a Sino Disneyland.12
- The Chinese state TV company uses Disney’s sports network, ESPN, to provide nearly half the programming on its all-sports channel.5
1 Ben H Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly (Beacon Press, 1977).
2 Walt Disney Company 1997 Fact Book (Walt Disney Company, 1998).
3 The Media Nation: TV (Nation Institute Investigative Fund, 1998).
4 1997 Annual Report (Walt Disney Company, 1998).
5 Edward S Herman and Robert W McChesney, The Global Media (Casell, 1997).
6 UNESCO Statistical Yearbook (UNESCO, 1997).
7 Richard de Cordova, ‘The Mickey in Macey’s Window’ from
Disney Discourse, ed Eric Smoodin, (Routledge, 1994).
8 Douglas Gomery, ‘Disney’s Business History’ from Disney
Discourse, ibid.
9 Business Week (Feb 24 1997).
10 What the ... : A Newspaper for Central Florida’s
Tourism Workers, (SEIU Local 362, May 1998).
11 National Labor Committee, 1997.
12 The Nation (Dec 23 1996).
