The Walt Disney Company is buying long-time partner Pixar Animation Studios, which made blockbuster films Toy Story and Finding Nemo.

Disney film producers were convinced Hollywood heart-throb Johnny Depp would ruin smash hit movie Pirates Of The Caribbean when they saw his interpretation of Jack Sparrow.

Michael Eisner, who stepped down last week as chief executive of The Walt Disney Company, has resigned his seat on the board of directors.

Hong Kong Disneyland held its opening ceremony today, marking Mickey Mouse’s biggest thrust into China – a market the US company hopes will flood the theme park with tourists from the world’s most populous nation.

Movie mogul brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein will cease to be co-chief executives at the Disney-owned film production company Miramax in September.

Wall Street managed a moderate gain today in a volatile session that saw investors alternating between worries about interest rates and delight in a new wave of merger deals.

Walt Disney president Robert Iger is to succeed controversial Michael Eisner as chief executive, the entertainment conglomerate announced last night.

WALT DISNEY is expected to name its president Robert Iger as the successor to Michael Eisner, the entertainment company’s long-tenured chief executive.

Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner is to quit the entertainment giant after a turbulent two decade relationship.

ENTERTAINMENT giant Walt Disney had a strong performance from its theme parks and cable TV channels to thank for a 20% surge in profits in the three months to June.

The bears returned to Wall Street today, sending stocks lower as oil prices rose, a downbeat outlook from Cisco Systems weighed on technology shares and investors started having second thoughts about this week’s interest rate hike.

It was a ducky day in Hollywood when cartoon star Donald Duck received the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 2,257th star.

MATT Damon’s The Bourne Supremacy, the sequel about the amnesiac assassin he played in The Bourne Identity, racked up $53.5 million (€44m) at the weekend, double the opening for the Bourne Identity.

WHATEVER you do, don’t call Roy Disney a Mickey Mouse operator. The 73-year-old nephew of the famous Walt has heard all the bad jokes before and they don’t get any funnier in the retelling.

Miramax studio chief Harvey Weinstein, the hard-headed genius who has backed some of Hollywood’s biggest box office hits in recent years, looks like he is about to walk out on the company he founded because of a row with Disney boss Michael Eisner.

A US distributor has been found for Michael Moore’s controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which means the film will hit American cinemas on June 25.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein have finalised the deal to buy back Michael Moore’s award-winning documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 after the Walt Disney Company blocked the release by its Miramax Films division.

Michael Moore’s controversial documentary Fahrenheit 911 was getting its first screening today at the Cannes Film Festival.

Disney has banned its film company subsidiary from distributing controversial director Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which criticises President George Bush’s handling of the September 11 terrorist attacks and connects the Bush family with Osama bin Laden’s.

A documentary by left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore which links President George Bush to the family of Osama bin Laden is being blocked by Disney, it emerged today.

Walt Disney Co directors’ decision to strip chief executive Michael Eisner of his chairman role stops short of what some investors said is needed to boost the company’s shares, which have fallen 25% in five years.

FORMER US senator George Mitchell, who helped broker peace in the North, has been chosen to oversee the strife-torn Walt Disney Co as its chairman.

The Walt Disney board voted to strip Michael Eisner of his chairman’s post while retaining him as CEO, only hours after shareholders delivered a stinging rebuke by withholding 43% of their votes for his re-election to the board.

A bullish economic assessment from the Federal Reserve gave most stocks a modest lift today, but the buying lacked conviction as Wall Street looked ahead to a key jobs report due later in the week.

The US press has reported that the board of directors at Walt Disney Co. is considering a plan to separate the post of chief executive officer from that of chairman.

Wall Street stumbled through a mostly lifeless session today as bargain hunters gave technology stocks a moderate lift but struggling defence contractors kept blue chips under pressure.

The Walt Disney Co. said it will buy the Muppets characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy and others, franchise from The Jim Henson Co.

The Walt Disney Company chief executive Michael Eisner has been compared to the hunter who bagged Bambi’s mother, but he is also responsible for the firm earning $1bn in the first three months of its financial year. Kyran Fitzgerald reports.

WALT DISNEY chief executive Michael Eisner spent six weeks seeking support from the largest fund manager adviser in the US to stave off an attempt to oust him from the board.

Comcast Corporation astounded the financial world with its offer to buy The Walt Disney Company, yet the cable television giant now faces a daunting task in selling the blockbuster combination – and investors have already indicated the proposed price is too low.

A massive £35bn (€51.6bn) takeover bid for the Walt Disney company was launched in the US today by the country’s biggest cable TV company.

John Hench, a long-time Disney artist and the official portrait painter of Mickey Mouse, has died. He was 95.

THERE may be a palace coup afoot in the Magic Kingdom.

Investors sent US stocks surging today, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 115 points and into the shadow of 10,000 after a pair of reports showed better-than-expected growth in the manufacturing sector and construction spending.

US stocks opened higher today as better-than-expected economic news edged on investors.

Executives at the Walt Disney Co are reportedly concerned at the violence in Quentin Tarintino's Kill Bill and are considering ending their relationship with Miramax, the film’s producer and Disney subsidiary.

British Airways yesterday plunged to its worst-ever loss of £45 million in the first quarter, and said the cost of last week’s wildcat swipe card strike could be £40 million.

Profits at Walt Disney have dived and the entertainment company’s media and film divisions have been hardest hit.

Walt Disney has reported a larger fourth-quarter profit on the strength of hit films such as Signs and Lilo and Stitch.

Disney says visitor numbers were lower than normal in the days following the US terror attacks.

The Disney boss responsible for Pearl Harbor has quit after the Second World War epic flopped at the US box office.

The Walt Disney Company is to axe 4,000 full-time jobs.

A Walt Disney spokesman has played down speculation that the company might be interested in buying Yahoo!