Disney to buy Universal?

M

markc

Active Member
WDW_Sam said:
I severely doubt this will happen for 2 reasons:

2) Disney would then have 6 theme parks, 2 of which are 20-30 mins away from the rest...

Sam
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That wouldn't stop a company from purchasing parks. Cedar Point's parent company Cedar Fair purchased the old Six Flags in Ohio (and renamed it Geauga Lake). Now the one company that owns Cedar Point and Geauga Lake have two parks that are only 30 minutes apart from each other, but they're still able to operate them independently.
 
Ralph Wiggum

Ralph Wiggum

Account Suspended
what happened to UO's debt load when Vivendi sold off to NBC? no theme parks in O-Town are struggling, the only one I worry about is the re-emerging Cypress Gardens. BGT has had slipping numbers for the last few years, but they're buoyoed by AB. no to mention their cash cow in the world of 'discovery parks'...Discovery Cove. it takes in excess of 280,000 per day gate receipts. UO's not struggling, the 3 resorts and parks have been booked due to aggressive marketing, a weak US dollar, and guest satisfaction.
 
Ralph Wiggum

Ralph Wiggum

Account Suspended
ThreeCircles said:
I'm sure the debt was assumed by GE/NBC. That's generally what happens.
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exactly. the NBC presence hasn't been felt in the parks too highly as far as merchandising, (the exception is the NBC ringtone inside the Revenge of the Mummy) I say that they're going to keep the parks on the burner for awhile and ride it out. but there's no way Disney's going to aquire UO. there are WAY too many licensing details throughout the parks and Citywalk.
 
polynesiangirl

polynesiangirl

Well-Known Member
I know GE as a company very very well. They are very big on aquisitions and they are also very big on spinning stuff off when it's not making money for them. It's a gigantic conglomerate, and so they can always afford to shed sectors that aren't working for them.

Frankly I was pretty surprised when they chose to keep the parks in the first place. It will be very interesting to see, if Universal has indeed lagging in numbers, what they will choose to do with it. I have no idea whatsoever who they would sell it to if they did, but the idea of GE selling them off is certainly something that wouldn't surprise me.
 
ThreeCircles

ThreeCircles

Member
Ralph Wiggum said:
exactly. the NBC presence hasn't been felt in the parks too highly as far as merchandising, (the exception is the NBC ringtone inside the Revenge of the Mummy) I say that they're going to keep the parks on the burner for awhile and ride it out. but there's no way Disney's going to aquire UO. there are WAY too many licensing details throughout the parks and Citywalk.
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Well, I still very much doubt that Disney will seek to buy the Universal theme parks but I feel this way for other reasons.

The debt issue wouldn't impact such a decision. If GE were to sell the parks to Disney the WDC would just assume the debt that the theme park divison has currently. It's just passed along. I'm sure that Disney assumed quite a bit of debt when they purchases ABC/Capital Cities.

The licensing thing probably wouldn't be too messy either. I'm sure most of the agreements include provisions in case such events came up. Just as the agreements were passed on to GE/NBC from Vivendi, I'm sure they could be passed onto Disney as well.
 
Empress Room

Empress Room

Active Member
Original Poster
MissionSpaceFan said:
I think its very possible, but not gonna happen. Besides, what fun is it not having a rival?
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Hmm. One could argue that Disney was even more "fun" in the years prior to having a rival in Universal.

Although probably pure coincidence, many of the so-called unpopular decisions and developments discussed by this Board that Disney has made occurred in the years immediately following Universal Orlando's entry into the Florida market.
 
Empress Room

Empress Room

Active Member
Original Poster
Ralph Wiggum said:
all valid points above. but WDW doesn't have a rival in UO. we have different resorts with different agendas.
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Although I agree completely that Universal is not a head-to-head "rival" and does have a different "agenda" (a topic more appropriate for a different thread) one cannot dispute that Universal's presence in the Orlando market has had some measure of financial impact on Disney. At the very least, that half-day or one day that a tourist now spends at UO or IOA would otherwise be spent on Disney property in all likelihood.
 
Ralph Wiggum

Ralph Wiggum

Account Suspended
Empress Room said:
At the very least, that half-day or one day that a tourist now spends at UO or IOA would otherwise be spent on Disney property in all likelihood.
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there are people that fly in from all over the globe to spend at least a week at UO resorts. nice bait. :) Magical Express is a reaction to this. MGM Studios is a better reaction to UO. different ballparks, different games.
 
nfeagle5

nfeagle5

Member
stitchcastle said:
wow, having The two Universal Parks as part of WDW gives me a shiver. i actually don't like the idea.
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I dont like the idea either. But i think as it was said earlier, Disney would own a controlling share and reap profits. I wouldnt want to see Universal as a Disney Property. I just dont think that it would fit in and mesh well. There are too many differences in quality and theming capabilities.
 
dumboflyer

dumboflyer

Well-Known Member
This was front page news on the Orlando Sentinel in fall of 2002. This rumor seems to come up at least twice a year. I highly doubt it will get any further than the author's head.
 
Ralph Wiggum

Ralph Wiggum

Account Suspended
nfeagle5 said:
IDisney would own a controlling share and reap profits. I wouldnt want to see Universal as a Disney Property. There are too many differences in quality and theming capabilities.
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1. There are very few profits to be made at this point.

2. You're right, Disney would have to scale back their 'quality and theming capabilities'. that's right up their alley. :)
 
S

Sledge

Account Suspended
Companies need competition. Without competition there isn't as much incentive to do the best to your abilities. I've seen this happen to lots of companies that bought their competition out and once they didn't have anyone to compete with the product slowly turned to crap compared to what they were before.
 
F

Foolish1

New Member
A few things for the record. First, if you go back to about 1989 or 1990, right before MCA was purchased by Matsua, Disney *DID* very seriously consider buying MCA/Universal. In fact, Disney came close to buying them back then. But Disney was unwilling to pay the $5 billion or so that was
being asked.

Second, NBC is *NOT* owned by GE any more, per se. NBC was merged with Universal. So, NBC/Universal is 50/50 owned by GE and Vivendi, at least for the moment.

Third, isn't it ironic that Six Flags Ohio is going *back* to Geauga Lake, given that is it's original name.

Could Disney purchase Universal, should it come up for sale? I think that Disney would buy them, if the price were right. But not NBC. I don't
ever imagine that Disney would want to purchase NBC, given they own a major network already.

But again, Disney is all about price. Disney has looked at buying many a company over the past 15 or so years. Most they passed on simply due to their cost. And then when they buy ABC, they over pay. Another irony of life. (I say this as I have read many analysts who believe Disney over paid for CC/ABC.)

Anyway, just a few thoughts.


John
 

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