Short answers, pulled from the story.
Universal Pictures was founded on the 30th of April 1912 by nine partners: Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour. It was formed through the merger of several independent production companies, including the Independent Moving Pictures Company, the Powers Motion Picture Company, and Nestor Film Company.
Universal Pictures is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States, founded in 1912. Globally it ranks fifth oldest, after Gaumont, Pathe, Titanus, and Nordisk Film.
Universal borrowed $750,000 from Standard Capital Corporation to finance a lavish 1936 remake of Show Boat, pledging the Laemmle family's controlling interest as collateral. When the production ran $300,000 over budget and Universal could not repay the loan, Standard Capital foreclosed and seized control of the studio on the 2nd of April 1936, removing the Laemmle family from the company they had founded.
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for Universal under a 1927 contract. When distributor Charles Mintz demanded Disney accept lower fees and Disney refused, Mintz took most of Disney's animators to work at his own studio. Disney and Iwerks then created Mickey Mouse in secret while completing their remaining Oswald films. NBCUniversal sold the Disney-animated Oswald cartoons and character rights back to The Walt Disney Company in February 2006 in exchange for Disney releasing sportscaster Al Michaels from his ABC contract.
In 1950, MCA agent Lew Wasserman negotiated a deal giving his client James Stewart a share of the profits from three Universal films instead of a large upfront salary. When Winchester '73, released that year, proved to be a hit, the profit-participation structure became a model widely adopted at Universal and eventually across the film industry.
Universal's most commercially successful franchises are Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park, and Despicable Me. Jurassic World is the studio's all-time highest-grossing film worldwide, and Universal became the first studio to release three billion-dollar films in a single year in 2015, with Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Minions.