In March 2005, it was announced that Bob Iger, president of the company, would become

CEO of Disney after Eisner's retirement in September; Iger was officially named head of the
company on October 1.[311][312] Disney's eleventh theme park Hong Kong Disneyland
opened in Hong Kong, China, on September 12, costing the company $3.5 billion to make.
[313] On January 24, 2006, Disney made a move to acquire Pixar from Steve Jobs for $7.4
billion. Iger made Pixar CCO John Lasseter and president Ed Catmull the head of the Walt
Disney Animation Studios.[314][315] A week later, Disney traded ABC Sports commentator
Al Michaels to NBCUniversal to get back the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and the old 26
Oswald shorts.[316] On February 6, the company announced they would be merging its ABC
Radio networks and 22 stations with Citadel Broadcasting in a $2.7 billion deal. Through the
deal, Disney also acquired 52% of television broadcasting company Citadel Communications.
[317][318] Disney Channel movie High School Musical aired, and its soundtrack went triple
platinum, becoming the first Disney Channel film to do so.[319]

Disney's 2006 live-action film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was Disney's
biggest hit to that date and the third highest grossing film ever, making a little over $1 billion
at the box office.[320] On June 28, the company announced they would be replacing George
Mitchell as chairman with one of their board members and former CEO of P&G John E.
Pepper Jr. In 2007.[302] The sequel High School Musical 2 was released in 2007 on Disney
Channel and broke several cable rating records.[321] In April 2007, the Muppets Holding
Company was moved from Disney Consumer Products to the Walt Disney Studios division
and renamed The Muppets Studio, as part of efforts to re-launch the division.[322][323]
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End became the highest-grossing film of 2007 at $960
million.[324] Disney-Pixar films Ratatouille (2007) and WALL-E (2008) were a tremendous
success, with WALL-E winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.[325][326][327] After
acquiring most of Jetix Europe through the acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide, Disney took
full control of the company in 2008 for $318 million.[328]

building with part of the columns being held up by statues of the seven dwarfs from Snow
White

Team Disney building in Burbank, which is the main building at the Walt Disney Studios,
houses the offices of Disney's CEO and several other senior corporate officials.

Bob Iger introduced D23 in 2009 as Disney's official fan club, with a biennial exposition event
D23 Expo.[329][330] In February, Disney announced a distribution deal with DreamWorks to
distribute 30 of their films over the next 5 years through Touchstone Pictures, with Disney
getting 10% of the gross.[331][332] With the release of the widely popular film Up, Disney
garnered $735 million at the box office, with the film also winning Best Animated Feature at
the Oscars.[333][334] Later, Disney launched a television channel geared towards older
children named Disney XD.[335] Disney bought full control of Marvel Entertainment and its
assets in August for $4 billion, adding superheros available for its merchandising.[336] In
September, Disney partnered with News Corporation and NBCUniversal in a deal to each get
27% equity in streaming service Hulu, adding ABC Family and Disney Channel to the
streaming service.[337] On December 16, Roy E. Disney died of stomach cancer as the last
person in the Disney family to actively work for Disney.[338] In March 2010, Haim Saban
reacquired the Power Rangers franchise, including its 700-episode library, from Disney for
around $100 million.[339][340] Shortly after, Disney sold Miramax Films to an investment
group headed by Ronald Tutor for $660 million.[341] During that time, Disney released the
live-action Alice in Wonderland and Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 3 which both grossed a little
over $1 billion, making it the sixth and seventh film to do so, with Toy Story 3 becoming the
first animated film to make over $1 billion and highest-grossing animated film. That year,
Disney became the first studio to release two $1 billion films in a single year.[342][343] After
starting ImageMovers Digital with ImageMovers in 2007, Disney announced that it would be
closing by 2011 in 2010.[344]

black letters spelling out the word Pixar

Pixar had been making films with Disney from 1995 to 2005, until Disney bought them out in
2006 as one of their subsidiaries.

Red background with white letters spelling out Marvel

Marvel became a subsidiary of Disney in 2009 after Disney acquired them for $4 billion.

Black letters spelling out Lucasfilm in a slight arch

After purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney vowed to make more Star Wars films.

black logo with a big 20 on the left side and underlined words on the right

In 2019, as Disney's biggest move yet, they bought most of 21st Century Fox's assets for $71
billion, rebranding it as 20th Century Studios.

The following year, Disney released their last traditionally animated film Winnie the Pooh to
theaters.[345] The release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides took in a little over
$1 billion, making it the eighth film to do so and Disney's highest-grossing film
internationally, as well as the third highest ever.[346] In January 2011, Disney Interactive
Studios was downsized, laying off 200 employees.[347] In April, Disney broke ground on new
theme park Shanghai Disney Resort, costing $4.4 billion to make.[348] Later, in August, Bob
Iger stated on a conference call that after the success of the Pixar and Marvel purchases, he
and The Walt Disney Company were looking to "buy either new characters or businesses
that are capable of creating great characters and great stories."[349] On October 30, 2012,
Disney announced that they would be buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion from George
Lucas. Through the deal, Disney gained access to franchises such as Star Wars, which they
said that they would make a new film for every 2 to 3 years with the first one being released
in 2015, and Indiana Jones, as well as visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic and video
game developer LucasArts.[350][351] The sale was later completed on December 21, 2012.
[352]

Later, in early February 2012, Disney completed its acquisition of UTV Software
Communications, expanding their market further into India and Asia.[353] By March, Iger
assumed the role as chairman of the board.[354] Marvel film The Avengers became the third
highest-grossing film of all time at an initial release gross of $1.3 billion.[355] Making over
$1.2 billion at the box office, Marvel film Iron Man 3 was released as a huge success in 2013.
[356] The same year, Disney's animated film Frozen was released and became the highest-
grossing animated film of all time at $1.2 billion.[357][358] Merchandising for the film
became so popular that they made $1 billion off of it within a year and a global shortage of
merchandise for the film occurred.[359][360] In March 2013, Iger announced that there
were no 2D animation films in development and a month later the hand-drawn division of
animation was closed, with several veterans being laid off.[345] On March 24, 2014, Disney
acquired Maker Studios, an active multi-channel network on YouTube, for $950 million.[361]

On February 5, 2015, it was announced that Thomas O. Staggs had been promoted to COO.
[362] In June, Disney stated that its consumer products and interactive divisions would
merge together to create new a subsidiary of the company Disney Consumer Products and
Interactive Media.[363] In August, Marvel Studios was reorganized and placed under division
Walt Disney Studios.[364] After the release of the successful animated film Inside Out, which
grossed over $800 million, Marvel film Avengers: Age of Ultron was released and grossed
over $1.4 billion.[365][366] Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released and grossed over $2
billion, making it the third highest-grossing film of all time.[367] In October, Disney
announced that television channel ABC Family would be changing its name to Freeform in
2016, with the goal to broaden its audience coverage.[368][369] On April 4, 2016, Disney
announced that COO Thomas O. Staggs, who was thought to be next in line after Iger, and
the company had mutually agreed to part ways, effective May 2016, ending his 26-year
career with the company.[370] After breaking ground in 2012, Shanghai Disneyland opened
on June 16, 2016, as the company's sixth theme park resort.[371] In a move to start a
streaming service, Disney bought 33% of the stock in MLB technology company BAMtech for
$1 billion in August.[372] In 2016, Disney had four films that made over $1 billion, which
were the animated film Zootopia, Marvel film Captain America: Civil War, Pixar film Finding
Dory, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, making Disney the first studio to surpass $3 billion
at the domestic box office.[373][374] Disney also made an attempt to buy social media
platform Twitter to market their content and merchandise on, but ultimately dropped out of
the deal. Iger stated that the reason was because he thought the company would be taking
on responsibilities it didn't need to and that it didn't "feel Disney" to him.[375]

On March 23, 2017, Disney announced that Iger had agreed to a one-year extension of his
term as CEO through July 2, 2019, and had agreed to remain with the company as a
consultant for three years after stepping down.[376][377] On August 8, 2017, Disney
announced it would be ending its distribution deal with streaming service Netflix, with the
intent to launch its own streaming platform by 2019 built off BAMtech's technology. During
that time, Disney made an investment of $1.5 billion to acquire a 75% stake in BAMtech.
Disney also planned to start an ESPN streaming service with about "10,000 live regional,
national, and international games and events a year" by 2018.[378][379] In November, CCO
John Lasseter said that he would take a six-month absence from the company because of
"missteps", which was later reported to be sexual misconduct allegations.[380] The same
month, Disney and 21st Century Fox started negotiating a deal where Disney would acquire
most of Fox's assets.[381] Beginning in March 2018, a strategic reorganization of the
company saw the creation of two business segments, Disney Parks, Experiences and
Products and Direct-to-Consumer & International. Parks & Consumer Products was primarily
a merger of Parks & Resorts and Consumer Products & Interactive Media, while Direct-to-
Consumer & International took over for Disney International and global sales, distribution,
and streaming units from Disney-ABC TV Group and Studios Entertainment plus Disney
Digital Network.[382] While CEO Iger described it as "strategically positioning our businesses
for the future", The New York Times considered the reorganization done in expectation of
the 21st Century Fox purchase.[383]

In 2017, Disney had two films go over the $1 billion mark, the live-action Beauty and the
Beast and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.[384][385] Disney launched subscription sports streaming
service ESPN+ on April 12.[386] In June 2018, Disney declared that Lasseter would be leaving
the company by the end of the year, staying as a consultant until then.[387] As his
replacements, Disney promoted Jennifer Lee, co-director of Frozen and co-writer of Wreck-it
Ralph (2012), as head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Pete Docter, who had been
with Pixar since 1990 and directed Up, The Incredibles, and Inside Out, as head of Pixar.[388]
[389] Later that month, Comcast offered to buy 21st Century Fox for $65 billion over
Disney's $51 billion bid, but withdrew from their offer after Disney countered at $71 billion,
with Comcast shifting their focus to buy Fox's Sky plc instead. Disney also obtained an
antitrust approval from the United States Department of Justice to acquire Fox.[390][391]
Disney made $7 billion at the box office again like they did in record-breaking year 2016 with
three film that made $1 billion, Marvel films Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War and
Pixar film Incredibles 2, with Infinity War surpassing $2 billion and becoming the fifth
highest-grossing film ever.[392][393]

blue letters with a plus sign at the end and an arch above the letters

Disney's video streaming subscription service Disney+ was launched in 2019, which has a
total of over 135 million subscriptions as of June 2022.

On March 20, 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's assets for $71.3 billion from owner
Rupert Murdoch, making it the biggest acquisition in Disney's history. After the purchase,
The New York Times described Disney as "an entertainment colossus the size of which the
world has never seen."[394] Through the acquisition, Disney gained 20th Century Fox, 20th
Century Fox Television, Fox Searchlight, Fox Networks Group, Indian television broadcaster
Star India, and streaming services Star+, Hotstar, and a 30% stake in Hulu, which brought its
total up to 60% ownership of the company. Fox Corporation and its assets were excluded
from the deal because of antitrust laws.[395][396] Disney also became the first film studio to
have seven films gross $1 billion, which were Marvel's Captain Marvel, the live action
Aladdin, Pixar's Toy Story 4, the CGI remake of The Lion King, Star Wars: The Rise of
Skywalker, and the highest-grossing film of all time up to that point at $2.797 billion
Avengers: Endgame, before Avatar (2009) was re-released in China in 2021.[397][398] On
November 12, Disney's subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service
Disney+, which had 500 movies and 7,500 episodes of TV shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel,
Star Wars, National Geographic and other brands, was launched in the United States,
Canada, and the Netherlands. Within the first day, the streaming platform had over 10
million subscriptions and by 2022 it had over 135 million subscribers and was in over 190
countries.[399][400] At the beginning of 2020, Disney dropped the Fox name from all its
assets rebranding it as 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.[401]