Walt Disney Conglomerates

The Walt Disney Company is unique in that it has a large presence in several industries. As previously mentioned, the Walt Disney Company is involved in the media networks industry, the parks and resorts industry, the studio entertainment industry, and the consumer products and interactive media industry (capitaliq). The Walt Disney Company earned total revenues of approximately $55 billion in 2017. This $55 billion came from their business in these four industries.
The majority of the Walt Disney Company’s revenues came from the media networks industry. Approximately $24 billion of Disney’s total revenues from 2017 came from this industry. Since Disney does such a large portion of their business in this industry, this is where you can find
The six conglomerates of the media industry are made up of Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, CBS Corp, and Viacom. Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, and 21st Century Fox are the leading conglomerates in annual sales. CBS Corp and Viacom earned $13.17 and $13.26 billion in annual sales in 2017 respectively (Hoover’s). This is much less than the other four companies, but it is enough for them to compete with the other conglomerates. CBS Corp and Viacom are secondary competitors. CBS operates around the globe as a mass media company. They are primarily known for having one of the major news and sports networks on television, CBS. They also own and operate several other local television stations and even do some publishing of adult and children’s consumer books (capitaliq). Viacom is a media entertainment company that operates through a media networks segment and a filmed entertainment segment. The media network segment operates many locally programmed television stations including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, and Spike among others. The filmed entertainment segment produces movies under the more recognizable name Paramount (capitaliq). These two companies compete with Disney in the media networks industry, specifically in motion pictures and television programming. Nickelodeon is the biggest competitor to the popular children’s television station, Disney Channel. CBS’s sports
SeaWorld’s main operations are its marine-life theme parks located in San Diego, San Antonio, and Orlando. It also owns and operates other theme parks around the country (capitaliq). As these theme parks are their only area of business, they do not compete with Disney as an overall company, but they compete with Disney in the parks and resorts industry. SeaWorld’s annual sales in 2017 were $1.34 billion, but they had a net profit margin of -15.32% (Hoover’s). Six Flags owns and operates 17 theme and water parks in the United States under the name Six Flags. Like SeaWorld, the parks and resorts industry is the only industry Six Flags is involved in (capital iq). Therefore, they do not provide competition for Disney as an entire company, but they provide competition for Disney’s parks and resorts division. Six Flags had annual sales of $1.32 billion in 2017, and their net profit margin was 13.24% (Hoover’s). Disney’s other competitor in the parks and resorts industry, Universal Parks, is more comparable to Disney’s parks and resorts division as it is owned and operated by a company involved in many industries. Universal Parks are run by the theme parks segment of Comcast, which was discussed earlier as a primary competitor of the Walt Disney Company. Comcast, as a whole, is a primary competitor to Disney, and their theme parks segment, specifically Universal Parks, is a secondary