Skip Shah, president of the Disney Day Drinkers Club, shares the latest information about creative mascots on The Bottom Line.
Walt Disney Co. announced an investment in Fortnite maker Epic Games on Wednesday, handily beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations, boosted by the theme park’s record performance and continued cost-cutting efforts.
Even before the company’s investor call, CEO Bob Iger said in an interview with CNBC that he plans to acquire a $1.5 billion stake in Epic and work with the company to create a “giant Disney Universe.” Then he announced.
“This is Disney’s largest ever entry into the gaming world, and a huge opportunity for growth and expansion,” Iger said in a statement.
Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger speaks in Hollywood, California on November 18, 2021. ((Photo credit: Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Disney) / Getty Images)
Disney described an online world where consumers can play, watch, shop and engage with Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and Avatar characters and stories.
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The announcement signals a new venture into interactive entertainment for Disney, which in 2016 closed down Disney Interactive Studios, the publisher of the toy-to-reality game series “Infinity,” and replaced it with a new venture into interactive entertainment. The company has announced that it will license its characters to outside game companies.
Disney shares rose 7% in after-hours trading.
Disney’s board of directors also approved a $3 billion stock repurchase program for the current fiscal year and declared a dividend of 45 cents per share to be paid on July 25 to shareholders of record on July 8. did. This represents a 50% increase from dividends paid. In January.
The company reported earnings per share of $1.22, excluding certain items, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of 99 cents per share for the October-December period.
Quarterly sales fell short of expectations of $23.6 billion, compared to $23.5 billion a year earlier.
Disney stock rose 7% in after-hours trading Wednesday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File/AP Images)
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | walt disney company | 99.27 | -0.03 | -0.03% |
walt disney company
Disney said it cut costs by $500 million across its operations during the quarter and is on track to save more than $7.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.
The company is under pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz, who is seeking Netflix-like profits from its streaming business, improved box office revenue for movies and details of its plans to make ESPN the dominant digital platform. There is.
“Exactly one year ago, we outlined an ambitious plan to return The Walt Disney Company to an era of sustained growth and shareholder value creation,” Iger said in a statement. “Our strong performance this quarter shows that we have turned a corner and entered a new era of growth.”
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The company’s Experiences segment, which includes theme parks and consumer products, posted record revenue, operating profit and operating margin.
Disney has reaffirmed its expectation that its streaming business will reach profitability by September. Streaming operating losses for the quarter fell to $138 million, a dramatic improvement from a year ago when the company lost nearly $1 billion. His average monthly income per Disney+ user outside India increased by 14 cents.
Streaming service Disney+ lost 1.3 million subscribers after raising prices in October, nearly double the loss of 700,000 that analysts expected.
Disney expects its streaming service Disney+ to be profitable by September. (Getty/Getty Images)
The company expected strong revenue per user in the second quarter, with an increase of 5.5 million to 6 million Disney+ subscribers.
The entertainment division’s streaming business, which also includes India’s Hulu and Disney+ Hotstar, posted revenue of $5.5 billion, slightly above expectations and an improvement of 15% year over year.
Overall revenue from Disney’s entertainment division, which includes traditional television, streaming and movies, fell 7% from a year ago to $9.98 billion.
This result was depressed by lower ABC advertising revenues and lower rates due to the continued loss of cable subscribers, partially offset by reduced programming costs related to the Hollywood strike. Content sales and licensing were affected by the weak box office performance of “The Marvels” and “Wish,” compared to the strong performance of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” a year ago. fell into a deficit.
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Disney’s sports division, which includes streaming services ESPN+ and Star in India, had revenue of $4.8 billion, up 4% year-on-year, but the operating loss was 103 million as Star in India’s deficit widened. It reported a loss of USD.
Theme park performance was strong with the opening of the World of Frozen attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland and Zootopia at Shanghai Disney Resort. Increased attendance at these parks helped offset declines at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The division reported sales of $9.1 billion and operating income of $3.1 billion.
