Sid Ganis, David Maisel, other Marvel top brass making millions on Disney acquisition

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While it will likely be years before we know if Walt Disney Co.’s deal to buy Marvel Entertainment pays off for Bob Iger and Disney shareholders, several Marvel officers and board members will have to wait only a couple of months for their payoff.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today outlining Disney’s $50-per-share deal for Marvel, the companies revealed that Marvel leaders including chief executive Isaac Perlmutter, movies chief and former Endeavor agent David Maisel, and board member and Hollywood veteran Sid Ganis will all receive millions of dollars for stock options they hold because of the acquisition deal.(All amounts may vary based on fluctuations in Disney’s stock price before the purchase is complete.)

Perlmutter will make $34.1 million, a relatively tiny amount given the approximately $1.5 billion in cash and Disney shares he will collect from his holdings of 37% of Marvel stock.

Ganis, a producer, former Sony Pictures executive and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences who has been on the Marvel board since 1999, will get $2.76 million in cash for his options. According to SEC information on Yahoo Finance, Ganis owned only 11,000 Marvel shares as of Jan. 7, which would gain him a comparably paltry $550,000 directly from the acquisition.

Maisel, who has overseen Marvel’s movie operations in various positions since 2004, will get $5.93 million for his stock options and an additional $1.84 million in cash and Disney stock for deferred Marvel shares he controls. Based on his stock holdings as of March 2, Maisel will receive $11.4 million directly from the acquisition.

Update (Sept. 23, 11:32 AM): For more on how the Disney-Marvel deal came together, read the story in today’s Times.

-- Ben Fritz