Platinum Studios (PDOS)

[Raggedy Man]

Well, so much for being #1 with the largest character listing. I think Disney now holds the honor. Combine their library and Marvels probally puts them way over. IMO

Disney to buy Marvel for $4 bln
Stock and cash deal to combine character library
By Georg Szalai and Paul Bond

Aug 31, 2009, 09:39 AM ET

Disney has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in a deal that brings Marvel's portfolio of 5,000 characters, from Spider-Man and X-Men to Captain America, the Fantastic Four and Iron Man, under the Disney umbrella.

"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," said Disney CEO Robert Iger.
In a conference call Monday morning, he said the deal should close by year's end.

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter.

Under the terms of the deal, Marvel shareholders would receive $30 per share in cash plus about 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share. Overall, the deal is valued at $50 per Marvel share as of Friday's closing price.
Both companies' board have approved the deal. It now requires antitrust and Marvel shareholder approval.

Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce called the deal a "good move" for Disney, even though it "should put some near-term risk arbitration pressure on it."
He pointed out that the Pixar acquisition a few years ago worked out well for Disney under Iger's leadership.

"Disney already knows how to monetize characters across multiple platforms, and now it has 5,000 (Marvel) characters to apply its success to," Joyce said. "It helps give Disney a new, rational area to expand its exposure to younger audiences, especially boys, in which Disney had lost some balance in recent years."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if39271c89709c28e51aaec2525f7793b