Walt Disney Success Story: Man Behind Entertainment Empire

Walt disney success story is a tale of determination, dedication and vision of the future. His endeavours revolutionised the entertainment industry, forging the biggest entertainment empire in the world. The success story of Walt Disney witnessed a lot of ups and downs, but he persisted despite them. Now, let’s delve into Walt Disney success story and see what we can learn from it

Table of Contents

Early Life & Career

Walt Disney success story began after his first job as an artist, after World War 1.

Walt was not an entrepreneur since the beginning; he started his career working in a studio. It was in 1919 that he started his job search in the creative field as an artist. After a long search for a job in a studio, he finally got into Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, where he met his friend and soon-to-be business partner, Ubbe Iwwerks. Ubbe was one of the best animators in the world and has played a huge role in the success of Walt Disney.

After a year, Walt disney and Ubbe Iwwerks were out of jobs, and they both tried their hand at business, but their first business failed. Soon after that, they left for paying jobs and started working at Film Ad Co. as an animator. However, these jobs were not enough to quench their thirst for entrepreneurship.

Beginning Of Entrepreneurial Journey

So far, in Walt Disney Success Story, we have already seen one business failure; their next business venture was no different.

Even after working as animators at Film and Co., they started working on side projects, including “Laugh-O-Grams,” a comedic short series. Disney and Iwwerks again tried their hands in business and tried to establish Laugh-O-Grams into a business but eventually failed. In 1923, after their second business failure, Walt and Ubbe parted ways, with Walt leaving to try his fortune in Hollywood.

Another person who played a major role in Walt Disney success story is his brother, Roy. He convinced his brother Roy to provide him with a hand in incorporating the Disney Brothers Studio, which is now known as Walt Disney Studio.

Lessons Learnt

No success story is complete without going through hardships and learning lessons from them.

Disney Brothers Studio was no different than the previous ones. However, they were making just enough profit to sustain themselves. Soon, they realised their competitors had started poaching some of their best animators who were working on the Universal Picture project to develop a character, “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.” To make matters even worse, Disney Brothers Studio did not hold the rights to the character “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.”

The lesson from this experience became the substantial reason behind the Walt Disney success story. From here, he decided to work for himself; the rest is history. Some of the legendary shows, such as Kim Possible, Phineas and Ferb, Mickey Mouse, Snow White Seven Drawfs, etc, are some of Walt Disney’s productions.

Disney’s IPO

Producing blockbuster hit movies left the company with high costs and low margins. Soon, they found themselves under a lot of debt in 1940. During the period of 1923 to 1938, the Disney brother’s studios were divided into 4 different companies, which were re-absorbed under the name Walt Disney Productions. On April 2, 1940, the company issued 155,000 shares and raised $3.875 million for the company. Even after that, the company was under debt because of the high-end movies with low margins they made, such as “Bambi,” “Fantasia,” and “Cinderella.”

However, the rising debt could not startle Walt Disney’s vision. They started their own distribution company, Buena Vista, which he used to make high-margin documentaries. Walt Disney’s vision played a key role in his success; his vision for establishing theme parks played a major role in adding billions to wealth.

Also, know about the Disney CEO Bob Iger

Disneyland

Visionary leadership is one of the key components of the Walt Disney success story. When he had a vision of starting Disneyland, studios did not have enough capital, but Walt Dinsey determination made it happen. To start his own theme park, Walt Disney took out a loan using his own life insurance; however, he dealt with the situation smartly. After that, he initiated the TV network to develop a TV series for them, and in return, the TV network would invest in their disney land project. Soon after the major hit of the TV series, in 1955, Disneyland was finally inaugurated and became a major success, marking a significant event in the Walt Disney success story. In the next five years, Walt Disney Studios bought Disneyland, and in the same five, the annual revenue of Walt disney studios grew from $6 million to $60 – $70 million. After purchasing Disneyland, Walt disney now had everything from merchandising to branding; the production house had to continue its operation with one founder after the death of Walt Disney in 1966.

Key Take Ways From Walt Disney Success Story

Walt Disney was a visionary leader who revolutionised entertainment with his visionary leadership and determination.
From Walt Disney success story, we learned that only after constantly innovating and pushing our boundaries are we able to move ahead in life.
We also realised that hardships come in everyone’s life, and only by learning our lessons from the challenges can we rise above them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns Disney now?

Disney is mostly owned by public companies and individual investors at 50.58%, followed by other institutional investors, mutual funds, and insiders at 33.77%.