Walt Disney Co

Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it would submit plans to build its first theme park in mainland China, targeting one of the largest and most prosperous markets in Asia. The Burbank entertainment giant released a statement confirming its plans as news broke that the company was working with the Shanghai municipal government to build a $3.59-billion park to open as early as 2014. It would be Disney's fourth theme park outside the U.S., after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

As Walt Disney Co. set out to renovate It's a Small World at Disneyland, the company's Imagineers had one thing in mind: Don't mess it up. Despite being one of the oldest attractions in the park, the ride is among the most popular -- drawing about 6.7 million riders a year.

Walt Disney Co.'s romance with Marvel Entertainment began last February when Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger first brought up the idea of an acquisition during an otherwise innocuous business meeting with Marvel film chief David Maisel. In June, Iger made his intentions clear and the two companies embarked on a nearly three-month-long series of negotiations that involved four in-person meetings, numerous phone discussions and an intense back-and-forth over price that culminated in the $4-billion deal announced Aug. 31. The timeline of the negotiations that led to the acquisition, along with other details of the agreement, were disclosed Tuesday in a regulatory filing from Disney that led with its public offer of up to $2.12 billion in stock to help fund the deal.

Walt Disney Co., signaling a dramatic shift in its Internet strategy, is negotiating with longtime media rivals to take an equity stake in Hulu.com, the fast-growing website where users can watch movies and TV episodes for free. In exchange, Disney would provide episodes of ABC shows to Hulu, significantly broadening the program offerings to include such hits as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives."

First rule of movie marketing: With a hard sell, sell the faithful first. So it was with Walt Disney Co., which on Thursday used a gathering of thousands of loyal Disney fans to unveil "The Princess and the Frog," perhaps the studio's riskiest movie in years. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger used the assembly of devoted followers at the Anaheim Convention Center, many of them sporting Mickey T-shirts, to screen a major portion of the film that marks the studio's return to hand-drawn animation.

In a sign that the recession is cutting into Walt Disney Co.'s parks and resorts business, the company said Friday that it eliminated about 1,900 jobs at its domestic theme parks. The bulk of the cuts occurred at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., where about 1,400 jobs were eliminated. About 300 jobs will be cut from the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, with the remainder coming from corporate headquarters in Burbank.

After 18 years of dueling lawsuits, courtroom clashes and allegations of impropriety, Walt Disney Co. finally can close the storybook on its battle with the family that holds lucrative rights to Winnie the Pooh. On Friday, a federal judge ruled in favor of Disney by granting the company's motion to dismiss a copyright and trademark infringement claim brought by the family of Stephen Slesinger, who was a pioneer in the commercialization of cartoon characters. In 1930, Slesinger acquired the Pooh merchandising rights from British author A.A. Milne, who created the popular children's stories.

Walt Disney Co. domestic home video chief Ann Daly on Thursday disclosed that she is leaving the company, with speculation that she will end up at rivals DreamWorks SKG or 20th Century Fox. Disney took the opportunity to announce that it is reuniting its domestic and international video divisions under a single executive, Michael Johnson, who previously oversaw the international segment. The units were split some five years ago so Disney could focus on developing the foreign market for videos.