Beginning next week, Disney’s paper stock certificates will be a thing of the past.
The Walt Disney Company has announced that it will stop issuing paper stock certificates to shareholders as of October 16.
The company’s stock certificates feature images of iconic Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell, and Dumbo, and are a collector’s item for anyone who happens to love all things Disney.
According to GiveAShare, an online company that sells stock certificates, the Disney stock certificates appeal to kids because of the Disney characters featured on the certificate. A Disney stock certificate features a black-and-white photo of Walt Disney surrounded by color drawings of characters including Donald Duck, Bambi, and others.
Disney is certainly not the first U.S. company to end paper stock certificates – in fact, it’s one of the last holdouts. Most companies have switched to electronic stocks in an effort to cut costs.
Instead of a stock certificate, Disney will now be offering shareholders a certificate of acquisition if they ask, but it holds no value.
After the stock certificates disappear next week, they are likely to become collector’s items, but they won’t be the first stock market collector’s items.
After Pixar was purchased by Disney in 2006, collectors hurried to purchase Pixar stock certificates because they featured characters including Buzz Lightyear and Woody along with the signature of Pixar’s CEO at the time – Steve Jobs. Today, two years after his death, a Pixar stock certificate can be purchased from Scripophily.com (a company that buys and sells collectible stock certificates) for close to $600.
