Retlaw Enterprises
| Private corporation | |
| Industry | Media, Real Estate |
| Founded | 1950 |
| Founder | Walt Disney |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Headquarters | North Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Services | Broadcast |
| Total assets | ~$150 million (1990) |
| Owner |
Lillian Disney (30%) Diane Disney Miller (40%) Sharon Disney Lund (30%) |
| Subsidiaries | Retlaw Broadcasting Corp. |
Retlaw Enterprises, originally Walt Disney Miniature Railroad, then Walt Disney, Inc. (WDI), and then WED Enterprises (WED), was a privately held company owned by the heirs of entertainment mogul Walt Disney. Disney formed the company to control the rights to his name and to manage two Disneyland attractions that he personally owned. The name, Retlaw, is Walter spelled backwards.
Walt Disney Miniature Railroad was formed by Walt Disney in 1950 to manage the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, his elaborate backyard miniature railroad. The company's name was changed to Walt Disney, Inc. (WDI) on December 16, 1952, and its purpose was changed to supposedly produce TV shows. However, he soon started the Disneyland designing and engineering division within WDI. He also assigned the rights to his name and likeness to the company, as well as ownership of the Disneyland Railroad, Mark Twain Steamboat, Viewliner Train of Tomorrow (defunct), and Disneyland Monorail attractions in Disneyland.Roy O. Disney objected to Walt's creation of the company as he considered it a diversion of a larger portion of the Walt Disney Productions income to Walt's family. WDI charged a licensing fee to the Disney company for 5% to 10% of the income from all of Disney's merchandising deals. In light of objections from Roy as well as those of potential stockholders, WDI was renamed WED Enterprises (WED) in 1953 based on Walt's initials.
Walt also licensed Zorro TV rights from Mitchell in February 1953. WED Enterprises developed some scripts for the proposed Zorro TV series and shopped the series to the CBS and NBC TV networks. Both networks requested to see a pilot show. However, with the construction of Disneyland ongoing, the Zorro show was put on hold, and the rights were sold later that year to Walt Disney Productions.
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