The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, is a diversified worldwide entertainment company with operations in four business segments: Media Networks; Parks and Resorts; Studio Entertainment; and Consumer Products. The Walt Disney Company is the second largest media conglomerate in the world, behind Time Warner. Marketing writes that Disney ranks seventh among the world's most valuable brands (22). Disney owns the ABC television network in addition to ten broadcast television stations and more than seventy radio stations. It also has investments in several cable channels such as ESPN in which it holds 80% ownership, and A&E Television Networks in which it owns 38% of the outstanding common stock. Its Walt Disney Studios produces films through Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, and Miramax. Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, which includes Walt Disney World and Disneyland, owns some of the most popular resorts in North America. Walt Disney Internet Group oversees the Web entities ABC.com, Disney Online, and ESPN.com ("Reuters Abridged Business Summary" Online).

Selected financial information about The Walt Disney Company is presented below. This data was extracted from the documents found in the Appendix:

'90s and into 2000, attendance at our parks has dipped the past few years as the economy slowed and the number of overseas tourists visiting America declined significantly. Toward the end of fiscal 2003, as the economy showed signs of improvement, we saw encouraging trends in attendance, trends that appear to be continuing into the first weeks of the new fiscal year. If this continues, then it will have important long-term consequences, since a very high percentage of every incremental dollar generated at our parks goes to the bottom line. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts have managed through the downturn primarily in two ways. First, we have made better use of existing assets by instituting efficiency measures and by innovative promotions, such as Walt Disney World's Play Four Days and Magical Gatherings programs. Second, we have kept enhancing and expanding the product with exciting new attractions, such as Mission: SPACE and Mickey's PhilharMagic at Walt Disney World and Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular, a bug's land, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the-soon-to-open The Twilight Zone" Tower of Terror at the Disneyland Resort. In addition, we continue to open new resort facilities, such as the Pop Century Resor