Disney should consider purchasing DC Entertainment

[Trey Strain]

Some folks here were suggesting that Disney couldn't afford to buy DC Entertainment, that that was a crazy idea. But look here. AT&T is seeking to buy Time Warner itself!

Don't tell me Disney can't afford DC Entertainment. Get out of here with that nonsense.

As a matter of fact, Disney's purchase of DC Entertainment would remove any objections the Justice Department might raise to AT&T's buying the remainder of Time Warner.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-s...134948414.html

[daBronzeBomma]

Some folks here were suggesting that Disney couldn't afford to buy DC Entertainment, that that was a crazy idea. But look here. AT&T is seeking to buy Time Warner itself!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-s...134948414.html

Read the article. AT & T buying Time-Warner is a Vertical merger (distribution buys content or vice versa), which is treated way more leniently than a Horizontal merger (content buys rival content, distribution buys rival distribution).

If Disney tried to buy TimeWarner, there would be a LOT more federal heat brought down on Disney than there is on AT&T.

[Trey Strain]

Read the article. AT & T buying Time-Warner is a Vertical merger (distribution buys content or vice versa), which is treated way more leniently than a Horizontal merger (content buys rival content, distribution buys rival distribution).

If Disney tried to buy TimeWarner, there would be a LOT more federal heat brought down on Disney than there is on AT&T.

I didn't say Disney should buy Time Warner. I said it should take a hard look at buying DC Entertainment, which is only a part of Time Warner. All three companies -- Time Warner, AT&T and Disney -- would come out ahead if they did. The Justice Department couldn't object to two companies dividing up Time Warner.

[Za Waldo]

If comics are flirting with extinction, no doubt driven by Marvel's comic wing, Disney ain't going to buy DC to pick up some aspect of Marvel Disney likely don't give a shit about. Disney didn't buy Marvel to get into the comic book game, they bought them for the movies and all those IPs they can sell to boys given that's a market they'd been trying but having a hard time to tap. And Warner Bros. ain't fucking selling off DC Entertainment just because of comic like they're WCW, because DC is more to them than just comic books. Comic books are probably the last thing Warner Brothers thinks of when thinking of DC just like comics are the last thing Disney thinks of when they think of Marvel.

If comics are going to go extinct, Marvel/Disney will just get out of the comic book game and license their stuff out to companies that stay in comics. It won't be any different than what they do with everything they own in the realm of video games.

The only way Disney is buying DC is if they buy Time Warner for like $80 billion like Fox almost did a few years ago.

[Hizashi]

Considering Marvel Comics seems to be leading the charge towards comic extinction, no, don't let Disney buy DC Entertainment.

[Trey Strain]

A couple of you guys missed the point of the story -- AT&T is about to buy Time Warner itself! The whole shebang, including DC Entertainment! So don't argue that DC Comics is "not for sale" or that Disney can't afford it. That's absurd. If AT&T is buying Time Warner, then Time Warner is for sale. That means DC Entertainment is for sale too, and Disney can damned well afford it, if AT&T can afford all of Time Warner!

[Za Waldo]

It's an interesting idea and one that could potentially uproot the comics industry as we know it. However, I doubt it could ever happen. I believe this because it was actually tried before.

Not many know this, but at one point in the early 80s, Marvel was very close to buying DC. In fact, it was so close that Marvel began working on concept art for a re-launched line of DC characters produced by Marvel. It really came close to happening.

A couple years ago, I met Jim Shooter at the New York Comic Con. I actually asked him about this and without hesitation, he said outright that Marvel was ready to pull the trigger. He told me a story about a phone conversation he had with some reps at DC and WB. The feeling was that at the time, WB couldn't turn a decent profit from the comics, but Marvel had apparently figured it out. So the idea was that Marvel would take an unprofitable division (at the time) off their hands for a sum of money and they would do what they did best. According to the lawyers on both sides, they were ready. Only a few signatures would be necessary and it would've happened. Marvel would've bought DC comics.

Then, at the last minute, Marvel was sued by a now-defunct comic company claiming that if they bought DC, they would be violating anti-trust laws. Shooter said the suit sounded frivolous at first, but it was enough of a disruption to cause both sides to drop the deal. They determined that fighting an anti-trust suit would've drained money from both sides and it wouldn't have benefited them in the long run. He did make it clear though. Had that suit NOT been filed, then Marvel would have owned DC. That one lawsuit was the only thing that stopped it.

So it really was that close. And chances are, that was the last opportunity Marvel or DC ever had to join forces. Unless something huge changes in the near future, that'll never happen again.

They weren't buying DC from WB, they were going to license the comic side of things out to Marvel. That wouldn't have been the last opportunity either, back when Marvel went bankrupt WB could have easily bought them outright for basically nothing. It's actually a bit weird now no movie or video game studio jumped on Marvel back when they could have been gotten for so little.

[Redjack]

This is a move that should interest Disney, given that Dan DiDio just said that print comics are flirting with extinction. The obvious response to that is industry consolidation.

I assume that Disney would be the purchaser there, owning to Marvel's greater value.

I'm not suggesting that DC's comics or television shows would improve under that arrangement, although its movies probably would. In fact I think DC's comics might get worse under Marvel. But doing this might make business sense.

Marvel could realize economies by laying off most of DC's managers, operating everything out of the same HQ, printing everything with the same presses, filming the movies and television shows with the same crews, and so on.

Something else -- comics sales, box office receipts and television viewership would explode for at least several years, with the novelty of merging the two universes.

If I were working for Disney, I'd take a hard look at it.

Remember that Time Warner sold World Championship Wrestling to the World Wrestling Entertainment. Something like that could happen here.

That will never happen.

[Trey Strain]

That will never happen.

Um, OK.

But the more you look at it, the more sense it makes. Disney buys DC Entertainment and maybe a couple of other properties, AT&T buys the rest of Time Warner, and the Justice Department can't object to anything.

Now if someone just doesn't want the Marvel people running DC, and getting their hands on the DC characters, I sympathize with that sentiment. But Disney doesn't give one squat about such objections, I assure you. It's a business move and nothing else.

[Za Waldo]

A couple of you guys missed the point of the story -- AT&T is about to buy Time Warner itself! The whole shebang, including DC Entertainment! So don't argue that DC Comics is "not for sale" or that Disney can't afford it. That's absurd. If AT&T is buying Time Warner, then Time Warner is for sale. That means DC Entertainment is for sale too, and Disney can damned well afford it, if AT&T can afford all of Time Warner!

DC isn't for sale, like you said, the whole kit and kaboodle is.

That said, your idea makes zero fucking sense man. If comic books are going under, why would Disney spend billions to prop it up? How much do you think that'd cost anyways? Disney spent $4 billion on Marvel back in 2009, and in 2009 Marvel hadn't yet produced any movies that make the kind of money DC movies do. Disney don't give a shit about comic books, and they sure as shit don't give a shit about comic books to the tune of something like four or five billion dollars. If comic die, here's what Marvel will do. They ain't going to WB to buy DC. They're going to (or they'll have them come to them) Dark Horse, IDW, Dynamite Entertainment, Valiant, Top Shelf, Image, and Avatar Press to license out the properties like they license out their different properties to video game companies.

[Trey Strain]

DC isn't for sale, like you said, the whole kit and kaboodle is.

That said, your idea makes zero fucking sense man. If comic books are going under, why would Disney spend billions to prop it up? How much do you think that'd cost anyways? Disney spent $4 billion on Marvel back in 2009, and in 2009 Marvel hadn't yet produced any movies that make the kind of money DC movies do. Disney don't give a shit about comic books, and they sure as shit don't give a shit about comic books to the tune of something like four or five billion dollars. If comic die, here's what Marvel will do. They ain't going to WB to buy DC. They're going to (or they'll have them come to them) Dark Horse, IDW, Dynamite Entertainment, Valiant, Top Shelf, Image, and Avatar Press to license out the properties like they license out their different properties to video game companies.

Again, you missed the point. The Justice Department doesn't want AT&T to buy the whole thing. If Disney buys some of it and AT&T buys the rest, then their objections are moot.

Anyway, how do you know that "only the whole thing is for sale" and that part of it can't be bought? Come on. You don't know that. It happens all the time in the business world.

And who said "comic books are going under?" Can you back up that claim? Every time DC and Marvel restart the numbering, their sales explode. It never fails. And what has that got to do with anything?

Imagine what would happen to comics sales if the DC and Marvel universes were merged. They'd have a hard time printing enough copies! YOU might hate it, but that's not the point.

[Redjack]

Um, OK.

But the more you look at it, the more sense it makes. Disney buys DC Entertainment and maybe a couple of other properties, AT&T buys the rest of Time Warner, and the Justice Department can't object to anything.

Now if someone just doesn't want the Marvel people running DC, and getting their hands on the DC characters, I sympathize with that sentiment. But Disney doesn't give one squat about such objections, I assure you. It's a business move and nothing else.

It makes no sense even according to your premise. If the comics side of the industry is failing and Marvel is already owned by Disney, Why would Disney bother to pick up DC as an asset? They don't need it and, according to your hypothetical, DC is failing (DC is fine). It does not make sense to buy a filking company that only duplicates, poorly, what your existing comics property does better.

[NoDakFan]

I didn't say Disney should buy Time Warner. I said it should take a hard look at buying DC Entertainment, which is only a part of Time Warner. All three companies -- Time Warner, AT&T and Disney -- would come out ahead if they did. The Justice Department couldn't object to two companies dividing up Time Warner.

The Justice Department could and likely would still object to two companies dividing up Time Warner. You don't seem to have an understanding of what the Department of Justice is objecting to. Did you even read the article you posted? It flat out says: "The main antitrust fear with a vertical merger like this is that AT&T will make that sought-after content more expensive for other distributors like Comcast (CMCSA) and Yahoo parent company Verizon (VZ). Another fear, as The New York Times has noted, is that AT&T might only promote HBO content to its customers instead of content from other providers like Starz and Showtime. AT&T may also give its wireless customers unlimited time watching HBO while making content from other providers count against data limits, The Times noted."

Dividing up Time Warner and selling it off piece by piece to Disney and/or AT&T would not alleviate those concerns. There's also the fear that if this case goes through, it'll lead to copy-cat cases, with other cable / satellite companies (like TW) to seek deals with wireless companies (like AT&T) as stated in the New York Times article your article cites.

DC Entertainment plays no role in this. If Time Warner sold off DC tomorrow, if they never owned DC, no matter what scenario you pick - DC has no impact on the Justice Department's decision to object or not.

[Triniking1234]

From the looks of the Yahoo article and what BronzeBomma explained, Disney buying DC Entertainment ain't ever gonna happen. Mostly because of that "horizontal merger" thing. Since Disney is already competing in the comics-related media by franchising Marvel properties, attempting to purchase DC Entertainment for the same reason would be seen as competition elimination and the D. of Justice would probably step in.

[Ascended]

From the looks of the Yahoo article and what BronzeBomma explained, Disney buying DC Entertainment ain't ever gonna happen. Mostly because of that "horizontal merger" thing. Since Disney is already competing in the comics-related media by franchising Marvel properties, attempting to purchase DC Entertainment for the same reason would be seen as competition elimination and the D. of Justice would probably step in.

No, it's incredibly unlikely to happen to the point of being just this side of impossible. It's questionable on basically every level; from whether it'd be financially viable for Disney (an investment costing potential billions just to have more of the same? No.) to whether it would even be legal (probably not).