Although it is now one of the largest corporations in the world, the Walt Disney Company started as a small animation studio in the garage of Walt and Roy Disneys grandfather. This tiny venture was founded on October 16, 1923 and in 2006, Walt Disneys company had grown to revenues of $34.3 billion.
The first project the Disney brothers worked on was a series entitled Alices Wonderland, and in 1925, Walt Disney convinced his brother to rename the studio to Walt Disney Studios. After several smaller successes and failures, the first Mickey Mouse cartoons Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie were released to audiences in 1928. As it was the first cartoon with sound to achieve popularity, Walt Disney was able to expand his ventures a year later into three additional companies: Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company.
Over the next several years, what would become some of Disneys most beloved characters were introduced: Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932, and Donald Duck in 1934. It was in 1937 that the studios first feature-length animation film was released, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and it made history books by...