• BusinessWeek, Friday, October 17, 2008 9:17 AM

The remaining "big, groaning media conglomerates" have been ardently wooing investors lately, but it hasn't been easy going. The two best players at the game are News Corp. and Disney. Both have been knocked around by the stock market in the past year, but Disney has emerged the winner.

Investors like two things: Among its peers, Disney derives the smallest percentage of revenues from advertising, thanks to the decision in 1997 to sell of its newspaper division. Also, Disney boasts it can take a show or personality and "extrapolate a gazillion revenue streams" by leveraging everything from merchandising to theme parks.

The question is how those theme parks, which make up about one-third of Disney revenues, will do in a recession. But still, the media giant appears to be a better bet for stability. And in times like these, stable is better than brilliant.

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