For more than eight decades, the name Walt Disney has been preeminent in the field of family entertainment.

From the very beginning, Disney's founder Walter Elias Disney fostered the spirit of creativity, innovation and excellence that continues to underlie all of the company's success. Walt arrived in California in the summer of 1923 with dreams and determination, but little else. He had made a short film in Kansas City about a little girl in a cartoon world, called Alice's Wonderland, and he planned to use it as his "pilot" film to sell a series of these Alice Comedies to a distributor. On October 16, 1923, a New York distributor, M. J. Winkler, contracted to release the Alice Comedies, and this date became the formal beginning of The Walt Disney Company. Originally known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, with Walt Disney and his brother Roy as equal partners, the company soon changed its name, at Roy's suggestion, to the Walt Disney Studio, which was initially housed in a succession of storefront buildings in Hollywood before becoming established on Hyperion Avenue. Filmmaking hit new heights in 1988 as, for the first time, Disney led all the Hollywood studios in box-office gross, with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Good Morning, Vietnam, Three Men and a Baby each earning more than $100 million at the U.S. box office. In merchandising, Disney opened numerous highly successful Disney Stores. Disney's performance during Iger's first year was stellar, with record revenues, record cash flow and record net earnings for fiscal year 2006. These financial results were driven in large measure by the company's outstanding creative product, such as the films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Cars, ABC's Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy Disney Channel's High School Musical and Hannah Montana, ESPN's popular sports coverage and, of course, the beloved attractions at Disney theme parks. As much as the company has changed since its Oswald days, much has remained the same, as it continues to be dedicated to providing innovative, quality entertainment for all members of the family, across America and around the world.