Short answers, pulled from the story.
Buena Vista Home Video was legally incorporated on the 13th of February, 1987, though the Buena Vista label itself first appeared in 1983 as part of Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company. The division was renamed Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in 2007 but retained Buena Vista as its legal corporate name.
Dumbo was the first Disney animated feature released on videocassette, available for rental only starting on the 28th of June, 1981. It was later released for sale on tape in summer 1982.
On the 14th of April, 2026, Disney laid off approximately 1,000 employees including the entire staff of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, effectively closing the division after 37 years of operation. The label continues to exist in name only for future releases.
In February 2024, Disney entered into a home video distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, in which Sony took over all physical media production and distribution for Disney's North American assets. The deal followed the broader contraction of physical home video as Disney+ expanded globally and Disney wound down in-house distribution in many international markets.
The Disney Vault is the industry term for Disney's practice of placing films in moratorium between release windows, limiting when titles are available for purchase. Disney stated the practice was intended to control the market and allow films to be reissued for new generations of viewers. After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in early 2019, the moratorium practice was extended to the Fox film library as well.
In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten Publishing signed a deal giving Buena Vista Home Video worldwide home media distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli animated films. Disney produced English dubs and distributed 15 Ghibli titles under various banners until July 2017, when GKIDS and Shout! Studios acquired the North American home video rights.