'Avengers' Silences Critics of Disney's Marvel Deal

6:00 AM PDT 5/15/2012 by Paul Bond , Kim Masters

Some who called the $4.3 billion purchase too rich now say Iger underpaid.

When Disney announced nearly three years ago that it had agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4.3 billion, some in the industry and on Wall Street fretted that the price was too high, given that it represented a 29 percent premium on a stock that already was trading near a 52-week high. Shares of Disney fell 3 percent that day, and Standard & Poor's placed the company's credit rating on its negative watch list.