Marvel Age of stock reports ends; Disney buyout approved

by John Jackson Miller

And now, here at the end of the year, a last little bit of comics history: Disney shareholders approved the purchase of Marvel Entertainment for $4.3 billion. The Associated Press reports that Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. Given Disney's value, the AP calculates that values Marvel shares at $54.25. The final settle, for the record, was $54.08.

Up fast in the early 1990s; down to destruction in the second half, and right back up again. The old ticker symbol, MRV, is since retired. I suspect the charts and data will be offline eventually; in the meantime, here's Yahoo Finance's look at the history just ended:

And that's about it for our ability to track comics industry companies based on stock market filings. In its two publicly traded incarnations — separated by bankruptcy — Marvel's reports were themselves collectibles, and showed detail on its publishing operations that will likely be harder to come by in Disney filings.

Motley Fool, which has provided heaping gobs of Marvel analysis over the years, says goodbye to the stock with a look back and also suggested ways Disney could use Marvel's properties to get ahead. "Pixar can render Marvel properly," suggests Rick Munarriz. "Animated treatments of some of Marvel's more obscure franchises will help Marvel, in turn, reach younger audiences, ideally without alienating its fan base." (Is Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy around the corner?)

Anyway, it's been a long ride since that first public offering in 1991: Our own Marvel timeline has just been updated. For more about Marvel's stock history, check out Dan Raviv's detailed tome, Comic Wars: Marvel's Battle For Survival.

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