Disney/CAP Cities

 Disney is rated #49  on Forbes top 500 of America’s largest corporations. Among five motion picture companies, two book publishers, six magazine publishers, eleven newspapers, three recording companies, Disney can boast ownership of Disney Land, Walt Disney World and very importantly The American Broadcasting Company. ABC, one of the biggest Television networks and largest radio network in the United States also owns twenty one radio stations and eleven local television stations. Everything Disney owns can be grouped into four different focuses. They are Media Networks, Consumer products, Studio entertainment, theme parks and resorts and marketing. the success of Disney has both resulted in and been a result of many noteworthy individuals working within it’s ranks. These people include Michael Eisner president and CEO of Disney and #354 on Forbes top 400 richest men in America, Perry Bass rated # 189 in Forbes richest 400 in 2000, Sid Bass, rated # 63 on Forbes World’s Richest 2000. All together there seven men working for Disney whose names appear on various Forbes top 400 lists.

 

www.Disney.com

 

 

AOL-Time Warner-Turner

Since the recent merger in January, worth $178 billion, of AOL and Time Warner, this cooperation has become the elite of the elite. They are now worth $350 billion, more than any other media corporation. They own interactive services and properties, namely America Online, rated # 271 on Forbes Platinum 400. Among others, they own major networks they own are Turner Broadcasting as well as Home Box Office. Their publishing companies include Time Inc. and Time Warner Trade Publishing and in filmed entertainment they own warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. They are also influential in the music industry through their ownership of Warner Music Group and in other forms of media through their ownership of certain cable systems. They also own TBS Inc. have collaborated with Dreamworks, owned by Universal Studios, which has titles to TNT, TBS Superstation and the Cartoon Network.  Their most recent major motion pictures include Gladiator, American Beauty and Cast Away. Two of their very important people are Stephen Case in rated #6 on Forbes Top CEOs 200 and James Clark is #334 on Forbes 400 U.S richest 2000.

 

http://www.aoltimewarner.com/index_flash.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bertelsmann       

 

         With more than 70,000 employees and annual, ever-increasing revenues of about 16.4 billion, Bertelsmann, a Germany based conglomerate corporation, is one of the largest multimedia entertainment corporations worldwide. It conducts business mainly through book clubs, music clubs, and eCommerce. lts book clubs, such as Barnes and Noble.com have 29 million members worldwide, leading alí regional markets. Bertelsmann's eCommerce businesses rank number one in the US in terms of the internee music market (CDNOW and bmgmusicservice.com, another US based music club). It is ranked number 2 in revenues for the internet book market with Barnes and Noble.com. Bertelsmann also owns boI.com, an international media shop on the internet that has shops in 16 countries It is the largest TV and radio firm in Europe, but has considerable claims to business in Asia, South Africa, and Brazil, through companies such as BMG Music. It owns Random House, a United States publishing company and also owns publishing companies in Germany, Britain and Argentina. lts US sales actually comprise of 33.7 percent of its annual revenue. Thomas Middeíhoff is the CEO of Bertelsmann.

 

 

 

Viacom

Viacom, a company which until recently was owned by former industry giant Westing House, has now combined with CBS to become a $37.3 Billion Company. It possibly the number one corporation on this page which reaches the most people and is in the public’s face the most, on a daily basis. The well known brands they own are  include CBS,  Nickelodeon, VH1. BET. Paramount Pictures, Infinity Broadcasting, UPN, TNN: the National Network, Country Music Television, Showtime, Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster. Possibly most importantly, Viacom Owns the MTV Networks. MTV is the world's most widely distributed television network. It is watched in 330 million households in 140 territories around the world. Viacom can also boast CEO Sumner Redstone who is ranked # 129 in Forbes top 400 along with Wayne huizenga, #150 on Forbes top 400, 2000. Viacom is the number one choice for advertisers because it reaches so many people in so many places.

 

www.viacom.com

 

link to everything viacom owns : http://www.viacom.com/online.tin

 

 

 

General Electric  

 

General Electric, one of the largest US entertainment/media companies, has been named number one with GM in the Forbes 500 for top US companies and is number 5 as of 2000. GE owns major media companies such as NBC, and major cable companies such as CNBC, AMC, and Bravo. GE also owns companies that are in the business of transportation, nuclear power, communications (GE Americom, which deals with satellites), plastics, finance, lighting, appliances, medical services, and insurance, but in terms of entertainment, its biggest asset is NBC, which owns over 20 cable companies and channels, NBC Network News, NBC radio, and many regional affiliates in TV. GE's channels reach as far as Europe and Asia for 70 mil lion more households, while non-US sales for GE in 1998 were 43% of its total GE operates in more than 100 companies, with over 300,000 employees. GE's 2000 revenues were 129.9 billion. In 1998, NBC alone raked in revenues of 5.3 billion.

 

 

News Corporation

 

With 10 billion in 1996 sales, News Corporation has been and is the biggest English-Ianguage newspaper producer in the world. The company is welI known for its head, Rupert Murdoch, whose family still controls about 30% of the stock. Murdoch established the company in his home country of Australia in the 1 960's and by the 1 980's was very powerful in the US. By the mid 1 990's, the company had erased most of it's debt caused by its acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox and the formation of the Fox television network. The company now operates on six of the continents in nine different media, including filmed entertainment, newspapers, television, magazines, and book publishing. Annual revenues are distributed relatively evenly among these types of media. Revenues mostly come from the US

 

Various News Corporation Holding:

 

Los Angeles Dodgers

Fox News Channel

Harper Collins-book publishing

25 magazines including TV guide

132 newspapers including the London Times

 

Seagram/Universal

 

Seagram, a company worth $12.3 billion and Owned by Vivendi Universal SA of France, is one of the leading global media moguls. Their most recent big deal is the acquisition of Polygram for $10.4 billion.

            Universal Studios, owned by Seagram, is another film making and media giant competing among the rest at the top. As they say,  “We are in the business of thrills and chills”. They have  worldwide operations in motion pictures, home video, television, recreation and consumer products. Their partners are Alamo, Coca-Cola, Discover card, Kodak, Panasonic, and UPS. They also own many theme parks which include the Universal Studios Hollywood property,  Universal's Orlando theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure - the world's most technologically advanced theme park. They also own Wet 'n Wild, a water park adjacent to the USE property, Universal Studios Japan in Osakatheyt have just bought Spain's largest theme park, Port Aventura in Barcelona, and are the first Hollywood entertainment company in China.

 

History

 

 

Disney

 

In 1923 Walt Disney and his brother, Roy produced their first animated series called the Alice Comedies, in a small office in LA. Soon they became the "Disney Bros. Studio" and five years after their first production Mickey Mouse appeared.  During the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s Disney’s studios, his productions, and the public’s interest in animation all grew. This time period resulted in Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Bambi and many more animated features that are historical cinematic landmarks. Walt Disney continued to work very closely with every part of his expanding company as his success grew. In the late 40’s he began to produce live action, full length movies and along with these came sound studios and production craft facilities. Mary Poppins, Pollyanna and many more famous movies were filmed in these new growths to Disney’s studios. During World War II, when the country was fighting, the effects were obvious not only in animated features where cartoon characters fought in battle too, but the war really hit home when American troops stored ammunition in the Disney studios.

            In the 50’s Disney built Mickey Mouse Park in Anaheim, California. It later became Disney Land. Disney now owned the Riverside lot, home to Mickey Mouse Park, many different production shops where “the magic happens”, and the back lot which was home to the exterior sets for live action filming. Then Disney bought the Golden Oak Ranch, which was used for outdoor movies such as Old Yeller and The Parent Trap. During all of this, Walt Disney Productions continued to stay on the cutting edge of filmmaking. Then in 1966 Walt Disney passed away, but his vision continued. Walt Disney World opened, EPCOT Center opened in 1983 along with Tokyo Disneyland while at the same time the Disney Channel began broadcasting. Then, on September 23, 1984 Michael Eisner and Frank Wells became Chairman and President of Walt Disney Productions and later changed to name to The Walt Disney Company. MGM studios were born, Hollywood records began production, Disney Land Paris opened and in 1996 Radio Disney began to broadcast on ABC Radio Networks and Disney.com was launched. Presently Disney is still going strong.

 

     

Picture of Michael Eisner

 

Disney timeline link: http://disney.go.com/DisneyChannel/z4/TheMagicIsBorn/timeline.html

 

 

 

AOL-Time Warner-Turner

            In 1918 the Warner brothers opened their first West Coast studio in Hollywood, California. At the same time Henry Luce and Briton Hadden thought up the idea for Time Magazine while in an Army training camp. These events mark the beginning of what would finally result in Time Warner, which was just bought by AOL in January 2001. In 1923 the first issue of Time Magazine was published while The Warner Brothers Studios was founded. In1927 Warner Bros. released the first synchronized talking movie, Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer. Then in 1928 Warner Brothers studios were moved from Hollywood Blvd. to the Burbank lot, in the east San Fernando Valley. Early contracted movie stars were Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, and Bette Davis. During this time Disney was producing more lively and entertaining films while Warner Bros. were producing more drama.  They did go on to make some musical as well as introduced us to Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), Judy Garland in "A Star is Born"

As time went by Fortune Magazine, Life Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Electra records, Warner bros. Records, People magazine, and Money Magazine were all launched and Time Life Inc. was created. Then, in 1989 America Online exploded into the world just as Time Warner Inc. was created as the world's largest media and Entertainment Company. In the early 90’s Turner Broadcasting System and New Line Cinema merged and Turner Classic movies, In Style magazine, the WB network and AOL online services all emerged. Finally in 2001 America Online and Time Warner completed their merger and we are left with what we have today.

 

 

  

 

See the AOL-Time Warner-Turner Timeline

 

Viacom

 

In 1971 CBS created Viacom in order to get around the FCC ruling that said that TV networks couldn’t hold cable networks and TV stations in the same market. It bought many cable stations including Showtime in 1978. Then in 1981 they started Music Television and MTV has made so much of an impact that a generation is even named after it. The advent of MTV truly can be considered a paradime shift in American culture. Then in 1987 Sumner Redstone bought controlling interest in Viacom upon realizing just how important cable could be. In 1993 Beavis and Butt-head were introduces to America and Viacom stock hit an all time high. In 1994 it bought paramount Communications and merged with Blockbuster Entertainment to become one of the top five most powerful companies in entertainment, but in 1995 Blockbuster founder Wayne Huizenga resigned from the Viacom board and then in 1996 Redstone fired CEO Frank Biondi. This however didn’t put a very big dent into Viacom, as they are such an established company.

 

 

 

General Electric History

            John F. Welch has been chairman and CEO of the company since 1981. The company began in 1878, when Thomas Edison established the Edison Electric Light Company, which then merged with the Thomas-Houston Electric Company, to form General Electric Company. A noteworthy fact is that GE is the only company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial index today that was also included in the original index of 1896.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Universal Studios History

            In 1912 a pioneer filmmaker named Carl Laemmle, an immigrant from Bavaria, founded the Chicago-based Universal Film Manufacturing Co. He soon moved to La. and opened Universal city. He continued to produce silent films and then switched to film with sound as well. Soon Universal Pictures grew into a full-fledged movie studio and became a leader in motion picture production and distribution.

            In 1924 The Music Corporation of America was founded by Jules Stein as a Chicago-based agency that booked bands into clubs and dance halls. MCA was having just as much success as Universal when they Merged in 1962.  then in 1991, Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co., Ltd. acquired MCA and in June 1995, The Seagram Company Ltd. (VO) purchased a majority equity in MCA from Matsushita. On December 10, 1996, MCA INC. was renamed Universal Studios.A few years later, in the acquisition of PolyGram established the Universal Music Group as the world’s largest music company. The latest news on Universal is that is In June 2000, Seagram announced a business combination with France’s Vivendi and Canal+. It is expected that this will only further Universal’s prestige and industry success.

 

 

http://www.universalstudios.com/homepage/html/inside/history.html