The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is a multinational mass media and entertainment company that houses its headquarters at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the largest independent media conglomerate in the world ahead of NBCUniversal. In 2017, Disney employed 199,000 people in their various divisions which include Walt Disney Studios, Disney media, Walt Disney parks, Disney direct-to-consumer, and international products.

In August, 2018, Disney made news for agreeing to pay Disney World workers a minimum of $15 per hour. Unions that represented nearly 10,000 Disney World workers fought along with advocate Bernie Sanders to get a three-year contract to raise starting hourly wages to $15 an hour.

Disney was founded on October 16, 1923. Most people remember the name Walt Disney, but it was actually founded by both Walt and Roy Disney who are brothers. Originally, the conglomerate started as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. The name was officially changed to the Walt Disney Company in 1986. Disney quickly became a leader in animation, releasing hundreds of classic movies over the decades and then diversified into live-action films, television shows and theme parks. Their products have a worldwide reach and include cable and network television shows, publishing, films, music, video games, theme parks, radio, and things across the web as well. Disney merged with 21st Century Fox with the deal closing at $71 billion in 2018, but the company will keep the name the Walt Disney Company.

Disney has a worldwide reach and while the majority of consumers are located in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Disney is present all around the world. They have theme parks, stores, and media companies in Japan, France, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Hawaii just to name a few. The most recent reported revenue from Disney was $57.9 billion as of the 2017 fiscal year.