Someone’s Mutant Power Appears to be M&A

2009-08-31

The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E.

Wow. This is huge, and not just for all us geeks out there. A bunch of lawyers are looking to pick up a ginormous amount of M&A work, plus a crapload of restructuring (potentially) for years to come.

I've seen only a very small bit of Marvel's licensing structure in Hong Kong from a deal I was involved in at the beginning of the year, but if you extrapolate that out and include what Disney does in HK/PRC — damn.

As an IP and licensing lawyer, all I can say is that I'm incredibly jealous of whoever has snagged this work.

As a Marvel comics fan, I'm slightly worried that my favorite Marvel characters will eventually be what one blogger has referred to as being "Disneyfied." We'll all be watching for that.

Tags: Intellectual Property, Disney, Marvel Comics, Mergers and Acquisitions