The Walt Disney Company: Disney is a public media, entertainment, sports, parks, and streaming company founded in 1923 by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney. The company reported $94.425 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue, $12.404 billion in net income attributable to Disney, and approximately 231,000 employees. Josh D'Amaro became CEO effective March 18, 2026, with Robert A. Iger moving into a senior advisor role.
The Walt Disney Company: Key Facts
| Company Name | The Walt Disney Company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1923 |
| Founder(s) | Walt Disney, Roy O. Disney |
| Headquarters | Burbank, California |
| Industry | Media, entertainment, sports, parks, and streaming |
| CEO | Josh D'Amaro |
| Employees | Approximately 231,000 |
| Revenue (FY2025) | $94.4B |
| Net Income (FY2025) | $12.4B |
| Stock Symbol | DIS (NYSE) |
- Revenue and employee count sourced to Disney's fiscal 2025 Form 10-K and annual reporting.
- CEO succession sourced to Disney's 2026 Form 8-K and company announcement.
- For informational purposes only - not financial advice.
What Does Disney Do?
Disney operates across Entertainment, ESPN, and Experiences. Its businesses include film and television studios, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, consumer products, licensing, and live experiences. The model is unusual because Disney can develop intellectual property once and monetize it through theatrical releases, streaming, merchandise, games, parks, and long-running franchises.
Fiscal 2025 revenue was $94.425 billion, showing a company with scale across both media and physical experiences. Streaming profitability, ESPN's direct-to-consumer transition, park investment returns, sports rights costs, and film slate quality remain central to the company's next phase.
How Did Disney Start?
Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney founded the company in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Studio. The company built early momentum through animation, Mickey Mouse, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, then expanded into television and physical entertainment with Disneyland in 1955.
Modern Disney was reshaped by major acquisitions: Pixar in 2006, Marvel in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox assets in 2019. Those deals turned Disney into one of the world's largest franchise owners and gave it a broad content library for theatrical, streaming, merchandise, and parks growth.
How Does Disney Make Money?
Disney earns revenue from subscriptions, advertising, affiliate fees, theatrical distribution, content licensing, theme-park admissions, hotels, cruises, food and beverage, merchandise, and consumer-products licensing. Its strongest flywheel begins with intellectual property and extends into repeatable physical and digital experiences.
Under Josh D'Amaro, the strategic question is how Disney balances its high-return Experiences engine with the more pressured media businesses: streaming competition, cord-cutting, ESPN economics, and the cost of premium sports and entertainment rights.
What Are Disney's Biggest Risks?
Disney's main risks are cord-cutting, streaming churn and content costs, sports-rights inflation, film slate volatility, park cyclicality, consumer spending pressure, and leadership execution after the 2026 CEO transition.
