Burbank, CA - The Walt Disney Company announced their purchase of The Lego Group for an amount of $2.3 billion as well as undisclosed stock transactions. This buyout follows in a long line of them for Disney, who is on a purchase roll. First, they purchased Pixar Animation for $7.4 billion in 2006. In 2009, the mouse bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Then, just last year, Disney bought George Lucas's Lucasfilm, Ltd. production company for $4.05 billion. Some might even say the craze started long before that (Disney's purchase of ABC/Capital Cities in 1995 for $19 billion (including ESPN) and their buyout of Jim Henson's Muppets for an undisclosed amount in 2004). All of these are part of CEO Robert A. Iger's attempt to raise the stock value of The Walt Disney Company, which he has done greatly. With the purchase, Disney hints at many plans. Those already announced include the relocation of Lego headquarters form Billund, Denmark to Burbank, California this move is very controversial), and the production of three new films, tentatively titled The Lego Movie, Too, Another Lego Movie, and A Final Lego Movie: Brick by Brick. As part of the deal, it is also assumed Disney will cut off Lego's deal with Merlin Entertainment to run the Legoland theme parks around the world. Disney will hold a conference call this coming Thursday (Thanksgiving).
