By 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe had generated nearly $32 billion at the global box office across 37+ films, the most successful film franchise in history.
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At 3:00:08 · chapter starts 2:46:39
After Pixar, the Disney board was effectively sold: find great IP franchises with running room and acquire them. Marvel came in 2009 for $4 billion — widely derided as paying too much for a comic book company whose best characters (Spider-Man, X-Men) were already licensed to Sony and Fox. What remained were 'leftover' characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. But Kevin Feige and Disney's creative team built something unprecedented: the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a meticulously planned interconnected franchise machine that over three phases of films culminated in Avengers: Endgame grossing $2.8 billion — the second-highest-grossing film in history. By 2025, the MCU had generated nearly $32 billion at the global box office. [1] — Ben Gilbert "ESPN paid for Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm combined: ESPN's cable profits funded all three of Disney's landmark acquisitions — Pixar at $7.4B,…" 2:57:37 Lucasfilm followed in 2012 for another $4 billion, acquiring George Lucas's mythological masterwork in Star Wars. Both acquisitions are smaller price tags than Pixar but generate comparably complex ROI debates. Ben Gilbert's observation cuts to the core: all three acquisitions combined — $7.4B plus $4B plus $4B, roughly $15.4 billion — represent approximately four years of ESPN's then-operating profit.[2] ESPN, the accidental acquisition nobody called 'the weightlifter,' funded the deliberate strategic acquisitions that defined Disney's 21st-century identity. Disney's market cap hit $200 billion under Iger's first decade, up 4x from the $50 billion he inherited.
ESPN's cable profits funded all three of Disney's landmark acquisitions — Pixar at $7.4B, Marvel at $4B, and Lucasfilm at $4B — in roughly 4 years of ESPN cash flow.
On August 4, 2015, Bob Iger mentioned on an earnings call that ESPN was experiencing 'modest subscriber losses due to cord cutting.' The next day Disney stock dropped 10%. Fox, Time Warner, and Discovery fell similarly. Viacom dropped over 20%. Disney's stock price today is still roughly where it was that day. The structural forces that made Disney and every traditional media company fantastically profitable had begun to reverse — permanently.
An 85-year-old nursing home resident wants to spend $50,000 — a quarter of his entire $200,000 nest egg — flying 10 family members to the Holy Land.
An estimated $31.9 million worth of 401(k) balances have been abandoned by former employees and are sitting unclaimed.
Matt from Chicago paid off $72,000 in debt in 6 months by working 12-hour days, 7 days a week, then funded an emergency fund and pre-paid a Costa Rica vacation.
Matt continues working 80+ hours a week after becoming debt-free in order to pay off his house by age 40, against his fiancée's wishes.
Elizabeth and her husband in Nashville carry $180,000 in combined debt — $115K in student loans plus medical bills and a car — and just discovered she is 5 weeks pregnant with their second child while also having a 4-month-old.
Despite $180K in debt and a surprise pregnancy, Elizabeth's EveryDollar budget shows a $747.39 monthly surplus on top of minimum payments and living expenses.
Elizabeth and her husband earn $1,900 per month from side hustles — she does Lyft and house cleaning while he does additional gig work — on top of their regular income.
Gold has averaged approximately 7.8% annual return since 1971 when the U.S. dollar was untied from it, which George Kamel notes is lower than historical stock market returns.
George Kamel shared that he and his wife paid off their own home mortgage in 26 months — far ahead of their original 4-year goal.
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