Source: http://qz.com/155390/why-disney-keeps-bu...

Disney, which has spent the last decade stockpiling many of the world’s most beloved franchises. First, Disney spentmore than $100 million to purchase the Muppets in 2004. Two years later, the company shelled out $7.4 billion for Pixar, home of Toy Story, Monsters Inc., andCars. Marvel Entertainment came next (in 2009, for $4 billion) and then in October 2012, Disney snapped up George Lucas’ company Lucasfilm—and all rights to a little franchise called Star Wars—for $4.06 billion.

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Disney’s decades of cultivating its own franchises–via movies, TV shows, its theme parks and of course, incessant merchandising–has given it a viable blueprint as it seeks to make the most of its new purchases.