Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire

Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire

In 1984, the Walt Disney Company was worth more dead than alive. Disney Animation — the heart of Walt's famous flywheel — had stagnated for years, bleeding away talent while corporate raiders circled, salivating over offers to sell off the film library to MGM and offload the parks to hotel operators. But what followed instead was the greatest turnaround in media history under Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Beauty and the Beast. The Lion King. Broadway. Bringing the Disney Vault home on VHS and DVD. And the greatest media acquisition of all time — ESPN. And then... it all almost fell apart. Again. Euro Disney turned into a money pit. Boardroom and executive infighting ran rampant. Animation descended into a dumpster fire. (Remember Chicken Little? Us neither.) Comcast — Comcast!! — tried to steal the company via a hostile takeover. Out of the chaos, a new generation of Disney management emerged under Bob Iger to stage yet another epic comeback with Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, creating the defining media empire of the 21st century…until the tech companies came along. Tune in for the ultimate Acquired thrill ride: Disney, Part II. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall '26 Season partners: * Sierra [https://link.acquired.fm/sierra] * Sentry [https://link.acquired.fm/sentry] * WorkOS [https://link.acquired.fm/workos] * Anthropic [https://link.acquired.fm/claude] Links: * Sign up for email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email], get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics! * The Official Acquired Meetup on Sept 17th with our friends at Sentry. Join us! [https://acquired.fm/meetup] * The Acquired Disney Part II Companion PDF [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/disney-the-renaissance-and-the-empire#companion] * The Acquired Disney Part II Artifacts visual hub [https://www.acquired.fm/artifacts/disney-the-renaissance-and-the-empire] * Our Disney Part II column in WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/business/media/disney-espn-acquired-podcast-flywheel-222b2b50] * Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Disney Study [https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory] * All episode sources [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/disney-the-renaissance-and-the-empire#sources] Carve Outs: * Warby Parker Transitions Extra Active [https://www.warbyparker.com/eyeglasses/light-responsive] * Michael Arndt's Toy Story 3 Story Presentation [https://youtu.be/FBcwt3QlY_8?si=fp92rR-B46Sz74GG] * The Golden State Valkyries [https://valkyries.wnba.com/] More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] and vote on future episodes! * Join the Slack [https://acquired.fm/slack] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! 00:00:00 Start 00:00:50 Intro 00:05:07 Disney in Chaos (1984) 00:11:33 Eisner, Wells, Katzenberg Arrive (1984) 00:24:30 Animation Renaissance & CAPS Tech (1989) 00:37:33 Flywheel Extensions: Home Video, Retail & Broadway 00:54:32 Challenges & ABC/ESPN Acquisition (1994-1995) 01:05:55 ESPN: Disney's Accidental Goldmine 01:21:26 Eisner's Decline & Save Disney Campaign (2001-2004) 01:34:53 Comcast Hostile Takeover Bid (2004) 01:41:58 Bob Iger's Vision & Pixar Acquisition (2005-2006) 01:52:17 Pixar: From Lucasfilm to Steve Jobs (1979-1995) 02:03:11 Toy Story, IPO & Eisner Conflict (1995) 02:34:30 Disney Acquires Pixar (2006) 02:46:37 Marvel & Lucasfilm Acquisitions (2009-2012) 02:58:01 Streaming Pivot: Cord Cutting & BAMTech (2015) 03:06:30 The Disney+ Strategy & FOX Acquisition (2017-2019) 03:19:01 The Disney+ Launch, COVID, & Chapek's Tenure (2019-2022) 03:42:15 Iger's Return, Challenges & Parks Revival (2022-2026) 03:50:54 The Business Today: Parks & Streaming Focus 03:59:22 Analysis: Disney+ Strategy & The New Media Landscape 04:10:01 Analysis: Bull/Bear Cases 04:21:20 Quintessence 04:24:39 Carve-Outs + Outro ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the most successful enterprise ever created for monetizing human nostalgia. Today it’s the king of global entertainment, holding the intellectual property rights to the childhood memories of billions of people (including, likely, all of you) and is a reliable, predictable profitable business. But it didn’t start that way. During Walt’s era, Disney operated like an unhinged moonshot factory, blowing its finances on one seemingly crazy project after another, like the very first feature-length animated film or a theme park inspired by Walt's fascination with model trains (spoiler: Disneyland). Walt’s relentless ambition to bet the company over and over again not only created some of the most monumental artistic achievements of the 20th century (Snow White, Fantasia, Disney Imagineering), but also resulted in the accidental invention of the modern “flywheel” business model. In this episode, we tell the story of the ultimate marriage of art, commerce, and engineering — The Walt Disney Company: Walt's Era. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMvanguardpod] * WeAreDevelopers event [https://wearedevelopers.com/acquired] * Vercel [https://bit.ly/acquiredvercel26] * ServiceNow [https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26] Links: * Sign up for email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email], get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics! * The Acquired Disney Companion PDF [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-walt-disney-company#companion] * Our Disney column in WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/business/media/disney-flywheel-strategy-acquired-podcast-hosts-b08023da] * The original 1958 WSJ “Flywheel” article [https://i.a.dj.com/pubedit/WSJ.Disney.1958%20(2).pdf] * Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679757473] * The Animated Man by Michael Barrier [https://www.amazon.com/Animated-Man-Life-Walt-Disney/dp/B0CC6GR3RC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OIDN1P8VBXTI&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DPMoEVRdu438orADD3yQ-A.OHOe2NkygEZA2uzUlcbQvB2UuSpAWKl9i3aPRBO1rn4&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+animated+man&qid=1781707085&s=audible&sprefix=the+animated+m%2Caudible%2C158&sr=1-1] * Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas [https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-American-Original-Commemorative/dp/B0F8WB99WT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14LOWNO6UN7W7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UPz9ok04Z5NWX6IoTDnrlSvsu4kZgA-dz9Rw4z1KIuu51irXkaXMDKK2epFTzjSTQFuJWaepKNVuqc64tXmUmJ3Ae1kzPm_m-TbI1hjVvRl4tRgb1u2-tFhfjaTp8qscBGKwaUgoWZkyb6cADdWZy01OkfJNa7KJgee9QMp0roZShi4MN0P2uW0aXbfczjXh2sXDdiNAPzhqQQ0D4G-40Vckzw5E6QgC7cEsJtWhalk.AGi7WBaCt1WhJHRQNF_jWS7y9QWuHXV-nwddYqqbtv0&dib_tag=se&keywords=walt+disney+an+american+original+book&qid=1781707028&sprefix=walt+disney+an+american+%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-1] * Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empires by Bob Thomas [https://www.amazon.com/Building-Company-Creation-Entertainment-Empires/dp/0786862009] * The Disney Version by Richard Schickel [https://a.co/d/075usfI0] * PBS American Experience: Walt Disney [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/walt-disney/] * Disneyland Handcrafted [https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-e23366be-f7a0-426e-9fbd-8911e7e528bb] * Walt's 1966 EPCOT pitch video [https://youtu.be/z3pTvwPzlTg?si=tIl6ux5ZuEOZE9jV] * Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Disney Study [https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory] * The Walt Disney Family Museum [https://www.waltdisney.org/] * All episode sources [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-walt-disney-company#sources] Carve Outs: * Brooks Vanguard sneakers [https://bit.ly/acqbrooksvanguard] * Defunctland YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/@Defunctland] * Animagraffs YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/@Animagraffs] * Volvo EX30 [https://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/ex30-electric/] * The San Francisco Symphony [https://www.sfsymphony.org/] More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] and vote on future episodes! * Join the Slack [https://acquired.fm/slack] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! 00:00 Start 01:10 Intro 06:03 Walt's Early Life & Artistic Calling (1901-1919) 12:22 From Commercial Art to Laugh-o-grams (1919-1923) 23:05 Hollywood, The Alice Comedies & Oswald's Loss (1923-1928) 43:27 Mickey Mouse & The Synchronized Sound Breakthrough (1928) 01:01:21 The IP Flywheel & Mickey Merch Explosion (1929-1933) 01:09:57 Flywheel Terminology Unpacked 01:18:53 Snow White: Walt's $1.5M Folly (1934-1937) 01:52:01 The Burbank Studio, Debt & Strike (1938-1941) 02:04:28 The Animators' Strike & Walt's Disillusionment (1941) 02:15:43 WWII, The Vault & Creative Slump (1941-1950) 02:24:27 Post-War Slump to Cinderella's Comeback (1945-1950) 02:33:48 Walt's Obsession: Model Trains to Disneyland (1950-1952) 02:38:44 Financing Disneyland: ABC, SRI & Davy Crockett (1953-1955) 03:17:05 Disneyland's Grand Opening & The Evolving Flywheel (1955-1958) 03:41:55 The Florida Project & Walt's Last Dream (1961-1966) 03:54:26 Walt's Untimely Death & Roy's Legacy (1966-1971) 03:57:57 Roy Finishes Walt Disney World (1966-1971) 04:01:09 The Post-Walt Slump & Corporate Raiders (1970s-1984) 04:09:44 Analysis: Why No Other Disney Flywheels? 04:17:15 7 Powers 04:20:45 Quintessence 04:23:50 Carve-Outs + Outro ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Vanguard

Vanguard is the most effective vehicle ever created for participating in the fruits of American capitalism. Today it’s the single largest equity owner of the majority of corporations in the S&P 500, on behalf of 50 million clients (including, likely, many of you). And yet Vanguard itself is essentially a communist organization — it has no shareholders, makes no profits, and operates more like REI than Fidelity. If you own a Vanguard fund, you own a piece of the firm itself. Any excess margin instead gets returned to clients in the form of lower fees, which since 1975 have added up to roughly five hundred billion dollars transferred out of Wall Street managers’ pockets and into retail investors’ savings accounts. And oh yeah, it all started as a cockamamie revenge plot by a guy who’d just been fired by his partners. Today we tell the story of communist capitalism at its finest — Vanguard. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMvanguardpod] * WeAreDevelopers event [https://wearedevelopers.com/acquired] * ServiceNow [https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26] * Vercel [https://bit.ly/acquiredvercel26] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26] Links: * This episode's PDF companion [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/vanguard#companion] * Sign up for email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email], get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics! * Our Vanguard "episode preview" in WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/finance/vanguard-costco-acquired-podcast-hosts-bogle-96d97c7d] * Stay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution by John C. Bogle [https://www.amazon.com/Stay-Course-Story-Vanguard-Revolution/dp/1119404304/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0] * The Bogle Effect by Eric Balchunas [https://www.amazon.com/Bogle-Effect-Vanguard-Investors-Trillions/dp/1637740719] * Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Vanguard Study [https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory] * Worldly Partners' Article Generational Investing: The Discipline Behind 100+x Outcomes [https://worldlypartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Generational-Investing.pdf] * All episode sources [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/vanguard#sources] Carve Outs: * Our WSJ pieces on Ferrari [https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ferrari-acquired-podcast-luca-di-montezemolo-6d2ee2cb?mod=hp_lead_pos10] and Vanguard [https://www.wsj.com/finance/vanguard-costco-acquired-podcast-hosts-bogle-96d97c7d] * MacBook Pro M5 Max [https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/] * Michael MacKelvie on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@michaelmackelvie] * The Super Mario Galaxy Movie [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28650488/] * Brooks Vanguard sneakers [https://bit.ly/acqbrooksvanguard] More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] and vote on future episodes! * Join the Slack [https://acquired.fm/slack] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! 00:00:00 Start 00:00:41 Intro 00:05:30 Jack Bogle's Early Life & Family Ruin (1929) 00:12:34 Princeton Thesis & Mutual Funds Emerge (1949-1951) 00:27:20 Joining Wellington Management (1951) 00:30:38 The Go-Go Years & Fidelity's Ascent (1958-1965) 00:40:36 Jack Takes the Reins & The Ivest Merger (1965) 00:46:04 The Go-Go Bust & Jack's Crisis of Conscience (1970-1973) 00:53:28 Jack is Fired: The Genesis of Vanguard (1974) 01:13:03 The Journal Article That Inspired It All (1974-1976) 01:35:02 Building the Fund & Early Struggles (1976-1981) 01:44:32 The Rise of Indexing & Vanguard's Growth (1988-1992) 01:49:06 Jack's Health & The CEO Transition (1995-1996) 02:00:06 The ETF Debate & Jack's Second Firing (1999) 02:24:18 The 2008 Financial Crisis: Vanguard's Moment 02:30:46 The Warren Buffett Bet (2008-2019) 02:41:28 Fidelity & BlackRock's Resurgence (Post-2008) 02:52:04 Salim Ramji: Vanguard's First Outside CEO 03:04:43 Wellington's Comeback & Mutual Ownership 03:08:23 Analysis 03:30:58 Quintessence 03:39:35 Carve-Outs + Outro ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Ferrari

Ferrari is the pinnacle of luxury scarcity — across its entire 79-year history, the company has sold just 330,000 cars at an average price today of $500,000. For context, Hermès sells that many Birkins and Kellys roughly every 2 years, and Rolex moves that many watches every 3 months. And yet this ultimate luxury product also lives under the same roof with a widely beloved professional sports team… one with 400 million rabid fans from all walks of life who live and die by the Scuderia’s performance every F1 race weekend! How is it possible that these two seemingly contradictory customer bases can coexist within the same company? And far from destroying each other’s value, only reinforce it? The answer, it turns out, is a beautiful, bloody, tragic and romantic opera that spans two families and three generations — and just might be one of the best tales we’ve ever told on Acquired. Buckle up for the story of Ferrari. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan Payments [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMPferraripod] * Vercel [https://bit.ly/acquiredvercel26] * ServiceNow [https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26] Links: * Sign up for email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email], get out takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics! * Our Ferrari "episode preview" in WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ferrari-acquired-podcast-luca-di-montezemolo-6d2ee2cb?mod=hp_lead_pos10] * Enzo Ferrari by Luca Dal Monte [https://www.amazon.com/Enzo-Ferrari-Definitive-Biography/dp/1788404718] * Seeing Red on IMDb [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33256963/] * Go Like Hell by A.J. Baime [https://www.amazon.com/Go-Like-Hell-Ferrari-Battle/dp/0547336055] * Stephen Wilmot's great WSJ piece on Ferrari [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wild-economics-behind-ferraris-domination-of-the-luxury-car-market-8427dff0] * Ferrari factory tour [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKiCbk_4qyI] * Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Ferrari Study [https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory] * All episode sources [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/ferrari#sources] Carve Outs: * Ford v Ferrari [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/] * Maison Wheat sweaters [https://maisonwheat.com/collections/mens?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22696090715&gbraid=0AAAAAp9Ya75ijeZKDNsuwXGfYz1rqHTvQ&gclid=CjwKCAjw1tLOBhAMEiwAiPkRHpvxw79MOGInML2jOvTqpaB1QkPsGpsbgjFdcnbCLO1MIgjCo_65yhoCjV4QAvD_BwE] * Craighill scissors [https://craighill.co/products/chroma-scissors?tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=23202298246&tw_kwdid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23192830497&gbraid=0AAAAACwaZstAWFYio9lIB0Y2DzeAM6SYm&gclid=CjwKCAjw1tLOBhAMEiwAiPkRHofpCCxg2cWH9q3JjNIKjnWh0A8ydjVpHl5xXSGkgnZKdaBimSPkURoCIE8QAvD_BwE] * Amazon grocery service [https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-same-day-fresh-grocery-delivery-united-states] * Travelpro Altitude backpack [https://travelpro.com/products/altitude%E2%84%A2-medium-expandable-laptop-backpack-25-30l] More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] and vote on future episodes! * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! 00:00:00 Start 00:01:08 Intro 00:06:11 Enzo Ferrari's Early Life & Tragedies (1898-1919) 00:12:39 Scuderia Ferrari: Enzo's Racing Dream (1920-1933) 00:25:08 The Prancing Horse & Ferrari's Branding 00:35:41 First Ferrari Road Cars & Le Mans Victory (1947-1949) 00:51:31 F1 & The Tragedies of Enzo's Life (1950s) 01:14:03 Ford vs. Ferrari: The Le Mans Rivalry (1963-1966) 01:21:24 Enzo Sells 50% to Fiat (1969) 01:29:10 Luca di Montezemolo's Return to F1 Glory (1971-1976) 01:52:40 Ferrari's "Pepsi Challenge" and how Luca rescued the company (1991) 02:27:41 Post-IPO Ferrari: New Models & Growth (2015-Present) 02:48:24 The FUV Purosangue & Model Range 03:07:16 Ferrari Luce: The EV Future with Jony Ive 03:12:37 Ferrari Today by the Numbers 03:29:39 Analysis 03:50:04 Carve-Outs + Thank Yous ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Rolex

Rolex is a series of paradoxes. They sell obsolete and objectively inferior mechanical devices for 10-1000x the price of their superior digital successors… and demand is stronger than ever in history! Their products are comparable to a Hermès Birkin bag in price, luxury status and waitlist times… yet they produce over 1m units / year (roughly 10x annual Birkin production). They make the most universally recognized and desired Swiss watches… yet their founder wasn’t Swiss and didn’t start the company in Switzerland! If Rolex were publicly traded, they’d almost certainly be among the top 50 market cap companies in the world… yet they’re 100% owned by a charitable foundation in Geneva that (among other things) literally just gives away money to local people in the city. Tune in for one of the most fascinating and admirable companies we’ve ever covered on Acquired. We had an absolute blast making the episode, and hope you enjoy it as much as we did! This episode was released on February 23, 2025. Sponsors: * Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora [https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora] * Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta [https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta] * ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26 [https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26] * Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26 [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26] Links: * The Renaissance of the Swiss Watch Industry - Marc Bridge [https://atpresent.substack.com/p/the-renaissance-of-the-swiss-watch] * HODINKEE - Inside All Four Rolex Manufacturing Facilities [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/inside-rolex] * “If you were…” campaign [https://www.watchprosite.com/rolex/if-you-were-reading-the-new-yorker-tomorrow--you-d-wear-a-rolex-/732.1577316.15622151/] * Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Rolex Study [https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory] * Episode sources [https://docs.google.com/document/d/13jbg_6wzcNt7KwCbJAiKhJ0ifcsgkh8AowXoovIfkiU/edit?usp=sharing] Carve Outs: * Bluey [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7678620/] * Acquired on Armchair Expert [https://open.spotify.com/episode/6xGGNXHVEVrEqH0kh0xbbz?si=mzd5tDwOTcOIh8zScIqk2A] * Eleven Reader [https://elevenreader.io] More Acquired! * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack] * Subscribe to ACQ2 [https://pod.link/acquiredlp] * Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! © Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.