Organization of the Walt Disney Company By Jeffrey Lo
The Walt Disney Company was formed in 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy. Walt revolutionized animation at the time by adding synchronized sound to an animated character named Mickey Mouse, which became an international sensation with the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928. They continued to expand by introducing new characters such as Goofy and Donald Duck. In 1937, they released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was the highest grossing animated movie at the time.

After the success of Snow White, the company decided to release 2 feature films a year. The number of employees was increased by seven-fold, a new studio was built in Burbank, and the company went public. The success of Snow White also marked the first time that Disney released products connected to its films in department stores.

Disney had managed to survive the World War II years and the failure of costly films like Fantasia, but made no new feature films that year. They did, however, re-release Snow White for the first time in 1944, which generated much needed income. This set a trend of reissuing cartoon classics to new generations of children as another source of profits.

The company would not release another full-length animated film until Cinderella in 1950. Walt decided to diversify his product by making live action movies and creating the Walt Disney Music Company. Disney made an average of 3 live-action films per year, with notable ones including Treasure Island, Old Yeller, and Mary Poppins. They created Buena Vista Distribution which helped them save one-third of a film’s gross revenues by eliminating distribution fees. They showed a commitment to developing their own in-house pool of talent.