LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Co. is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E.
Under the deal, announced Monday and expected to close by the end of the year, Disney will acquire the rights to 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by comic-book legend Stan Lee.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said Marvel's comic books, TV shows, movies and video games amounted to "a treasure trove of content." Iger said the deal would bring benefits like the ones Disney got from buying "Toy Story" creator Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.
For Marvel, Iger said being in the Disney camp would mean better global distribution and better relationships with retailers to sell its products.
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One point of the deal is to help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel superheroes such as Iron Man in recent years. That contrasts with Disney's recent successes among young women with such fare as "Hannah Montana" and the Jonas Brothers.
Marvel TV shows also already account for 20 hours a week of programming on Disney's recently rebranded, boy-focused cable network, Disney XD, and that's likely to increase, Iger said.
However, analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. noted that the $4 billion offer was at "full price."
And theme-park rival Universal Orlando will likely retain the park rights to its four Marvel superstars, including Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, The Orlando Sentinel reported.
Marvel shares shot up $9.77, or 25 percent, to $48.42 in afternoon trading Monday. Disney shares fell 79 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $26.05.
Disney investors were probably unhappy to learn that the deal will reduce its earnings per share in the short term and might not turn positive until its 2012 fiscal year. Marvel is profitable — it made $206 million in its last fiscal year on revenue of $676 million — but Disney's earnings per share will drop partly because the company will issue 59 million new shares.
Marvel also is releasing two costly blockbusters, "Thor" and "The First Avenger: Captain America" in 2011, and income from DVD sales of those films likely wouldn't roll in until 2012.
Disney said the boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but it will require an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.
Although it began producing its own movies, starting with "Iron Man" last year, Marvel has deals with other movie studios that Disney said it will honor and re-examine upon expiration.
For example, "Spider-Man 4," set for release in 2011, is being made with Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures; "Iron Man 2" will be distributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures next year; and the upcoming "X-Men Origins: Magneto" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2," both due in 2011, are to be distributed by News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox.