Orbit Blog

Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings group of companies bought the Marvel Entertainment Group, the parent company of Marvel Comics, from New World Entertainment for $82.5 million. “It is a mini-Disney in terms of intellectual property,” said Perelman. “Disney’s got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes. But at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters.”[2] Boosted by a massive merchandising effort, an increase in Marvel comic prices, and an overall boom in the comic book industry, Marvel’s profits spiked. Perelman later added the baseball card companies Fleer Corporation and SkyBox International, Italian sticker manufacturer Panini Group, and comic book publishers Welsh Publishing and Malibu Comics to Marvel’s holdings for a combined total of $700 million.[3] Investors around the world recognized his efforts and generated $80 million for Perelman when he issued Marvel’s initial public offering. He later added a significant stake in Toy Biz to Marvel’s holdings. His luck was not to last. Marvel’s attempt to distribute its products directly led to a decrease in sales and aggravated the losses which Marvel suffered when the comic book bubble[4] popped, the 1994 Major League Baseball strike massacred the profits of the Fleer division,[5] and Panini was hobbled by poor showings at the box office by Disney (Licensing Disney characters provided a major source of revenue for Panini, so when the movies performed poorly Panini performed poorly).[6] A major bondholder, Carl Icahn, fought to take control of the company from Perelman. Both men failed as Toy Biz owners Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad snatched Marvel from Perelman and Icahn in order to protect their own financial interests.[6] Estimates of his profit on the deal vary widely. Chuck Rozanski estimates that Perelman made $200-400 million off Marvel;[3] Forbes thinks he made nothing;[7] and the judge in the Marvel bankruptcy trial estimated he made $280 million plus various tax advantages.[6] In December 2003, Marvel Entertainment acquired Cover Concepts from Hearst Communications, Inc.[8] On March 15, 2007, Stan Lee Media filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment for $5 billion, claiming that the company is co-owner of the characters that Lee created for Marvel.[9] Additional, a lawsuit over the Ghost Rider Character ownership was file On March 30, 2007 by Gary Friedrich and Gary Friedrich Enterprises, Inc.[10]

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) is an American entertainment company formed from the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. and Toy Biz, Inc.

A corporate predecessor traces its origins to the May 1933 publication of Western Supernovel Magazine. That magazine was only published for one issue before the title was changed to Complete Western Book Magazine in July 1933.

The company’s oldest character is Ka-Zar introduced in 1936. In 1939 the company began publishing comic books as Timely Publications with Marvel Comics #1.