Is Universal Studios Part Of Disney? | Confusion Explained!
Theme parks owned by Universal and Disney often get confused with who actually owns what and how these companies are structured.
In this guide, we'll dive into if Universal is part of Disney, why there's so much confusion around these two companies and their ownership structure!
Questions We'll Answer About Universal Studios And Disney:
- Is Universal Studios Part Of Disney?
- Who Owns Universal Studios?
- Who Owns Disney?
Is Universal Studios Part Of Disney?
Universal Studios is often confused with another theme park, with a very similar name, called Hollywood Studios.
Universal Studios is not part of Disney, however Hollywood Studios, which is similar in name as well as themeing, is part of Disney.
In Florida, Universal Studios is about a 25 minute care ride from Walt Disney World - far off from Disney property.
In California the difference is even greater!
Depending on traffic, it can take anywhere between 30 minutes to over an hour to get to Universal Studios Hollywood from Disneyland.
Universal Studios is not associated whatsoever with Disney in Florida, California or anywhere else in the world!
However there was a time where Disney did consider purchasing Universal Studios, which we'll detail in the next section!
Who Owns Universal Studios?
Universal Studios theme parks, as well as Universal Pictures is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal which is owned by Comcast.
In 2011 General Electric sold a huge chunk of their investment in NBCUniversal to Comcast and then the remaining stake was sold in 2013 to allow Comcast to become 100% owner of NBCUniversal.
Universal has changed owners over a half dozen times in its history, and at one point there was indications that Disney was interested in purchasing them.
While owned by Vivendi, a French Media company, between 2004-2011 Universal Studios would run into issues with park attendance and overall popularity due to the effects of the Great Recession which cut travel spending out of a lot of people's budgets.
Theme parks certainly weren't spared by the Great Recession and Universal would see attendance drop and then stagnate at low levels for years.
With a greatly reduced value because of the financial fallout and Vivendi already shopping Universal around for a potential buyer, there was a window for Disney to acquire Universal at a great value.
While never confirmed, there were tons of rumblings about Disney acquriring Universal and what means they would need to take to do so.
Ultimately Disney's desire to purchase Universal never made it out of the very early exploratory stages and Comcast would eventually purchase NBCUniversal and all of its assets.
Who Owns Disney?
The Disney brand is simply owned by The Walt Disney Company.
Unlike Universal, Disney is still owned by its namesake company and has not exchanged owners.
Disney is publicly traded on the stock exchange which means that The Walt Disney Company is actually owned by shareholders.
This includes anyone from everyday people who purchase Disney stock in quantities as small as a single share, to hedge funds and banks who own billions of dollars in Disney stock!
If you want to be an owner of Disney, albeit a very very very very small owner, then all you need to do is buy some Disney stock!
LEARN MORE ABOUT DISNEY AND UNIVERSAL!
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