Disney

Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009 looked expensive at the time. Marvel was a bankrupt comic publisher turned film studio with exactly two successful films (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk). By 2024, Marvel contributed $15+ billion annually to Disney - 25% of total revenue - and the MCU had generated $30+ billion in box office alone.

The acquisition exemplifies successful M&A through genetic recombination. Disney brought distribution muscle, marketing scale, and capital for expanded production. Marvel Studios retained creative control under Kevin Feige, preserving the DNA that made the films work. This is sexual reproduction in business: combining genetic material from two parents to create offspring with hybrid vigor stronger than either parent alone.

Disney-Marvel succeeded where most M&A fails because they preserved what made Marvel valuable (creative process, storytelling culture, Feige's vision) while adding what Marvel lacked (distribution scale, theme park integration, merchandise infrastructure). The lesson: acquisition creates value through recombination, not assimilation. When you buy a company for its DNA, don't replace it with yours - combine them.