Disney buys YouTube-based video supplier for $500 million

It was known that The Walt Disney Company was in talks with an online video production network about a possible buyout. Earlier this week, that buyout happened to that very fortunate studio.

This past Monday, Disney announced they have agreed to purchase 5 year old Maker Studios, the “leading network of online video content” for $500 million. The network has approximately 55,000 channels, 380 million subscribers, and 5.5 billion video views a month.

With all this video and creative minds on the easily accessible YouTube website, Disney is able to create and target many more people who use online video for a means of entertainment and news today, specifically young Millennials. Maker Studios already has produced many of the online videos we see in the media everyday through their popular YouTube channels like “Epic Rap Battles” and Amy Pham’s “The Fashion Statement”.

Disney CEO Bob Iger, a firm believer in new technologies, said “Short-form online video is growing at an astonishing pace and with Maker Studios, Disney will now be at the center of this dynamic industry with an unmatched combination of advanced technology and programming expertise and capabilities.”