History
Walt Disney Inc. was formed by Walt Disney in 1953 with the Disneyland designing engineering division. He also assigned the rights to his name and likeness to the company as well as ownership of two Disneyland attractions, the Disneyland Railroad and the Disneyland Monorail. Roy O. Disney objected to Walt's creation of the company as he considered it a diversion a larger portion of the Walt Disney Productions income to Walt's family. WDI charged a licensed fee to the Disney company for 5% to 10% of the income from all of Disney's merchandising deals. With Roy's and potential stockholder objections, WDI was rename WED Enterprises based on his initials.
Walt also licensed Zorro TV rights from Mitchell in February 1953. WED Enterprises developed some scripts for the proposed Zorro TV series and shopped the series to the CBS and NBC TV networks. Both networks request to see a pliot show. With the construction of Disneyland ongoing, the Zorro show was but on hold. Later that year, Walt Disney sold his Zorro TV show rights to the Walt Disney Production.
In July 1953, Clement Melancon, a small shareholder of Walt Disney Productions stock, took Walt Disney and WED Enterprises, to court over the WED deal believing that Walt is improperly funneling profits from Walt Disney Productions. The case is settled in Junuary 1955.
Retlaw paid rent for the attractions' rights-of-way and employed the attraction administrators. Walt Disney through Retlaw Enterprises also owned the Viewliner and the horse-drawn streetcars on Main Street.
Retlaw purchased 10% interest in 26 Disney 1960s live-action movies including Mary Poppins through Walt Disney's management contract with the Walt Disney Co. that allowed him to invest up to 15% in new projects. By 1990, these movies generate an annual income usually $600,000+ for Retlaw.
Read more about this topic: Retlaw Enterprises
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