In 1930, Disney's second distributor sought to take Mickey Mouse as Universal had taken Oswald. Walt's careful insistence on protecting Mickey Mouse made this impossible. So the distributor decided to take Ub Iwerks, Walt's top animator instead.
Ub held a twenty percent stake in the studio and was insisting that he be paid out even though the studio could ill afford to do so. Roy Disney found the money and paid Ub for his shares- $5000 ($79,000 in today's money.) Ub took the money and setup his new studio, which eventually failed. If Ub had retained his twenty percent ownership in the company, it would be worth $30 Billion today.
