Short answers, pulled from the story.
Mike Richardson founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 in Milwaukie, Oregon. He funded the company using profits from his chain of Portland comic book shops, Pegasus Books, which he had started in 1980.
Dark Horse Comics allows creators to retain ownership of their work and shares profits from comic books and related merchandise with artists and writers. At Marvel and DC, the standard work-for-hire arrangement gives the bulk of revenue and all merchandising rights to the publisher, not the creators.
The first publication was Dark Horse Presents No. 1, which featured Paul Chadwick's Concrete and Chris Warner's Black Cross. It sold approximately 50,000 copies, far exceeding expectations.
Dark Horse Comics held the Star Wars comics license from 1991 to 2015, including the first Free Comic Book Day publication in 2002, Star Wars: Tales - A Jedi's Weapon. In late 2021, Dark Horse announced a new line of all-ages Star Wars comics in collaboration with Lucasfilm and Disney Publishing Worldwide.
Embracer Group, a Swedish video game holding company, acquired Dark Horse Media, the parent company of Dark Horse Comics, finalizing the deal on the 14th of March 2022. The acquisition was announced in December 2021 and made Dark Horse the tenth operative division within Embracer Group.
Dark Horse Entertainment, established in 1992, has produced over two dozen films and television projects. Major films include The Mask (1994), Hellboy (2004), 300 (2007), and Sin City (2005). Television projects include The Umbrella Academy (2019-2024), Resident Alien (2021-present), and The Mask animated series (1995-1997).