Cash Surplus
The company generates a healthy surplus of cash through its operations, affording it considerable flexibility when it comes to adapting to ever-shifting consumer preferences and expanding its operations. The past decade alone has seen Disney absorb some of pop culture’s most beloved (and profitable) brands into its own operations. It purchased Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, spent more than $4.6 billion for Marvel in 2009, and created shockwaves in late 2012 with its $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm. Not only does the company now own and operate dozens of highly lucrative film properties through these deals, but it also attained full licensing and marketing rights.