Disney Beats Wall Street Even as Disney+ Sheds 4 Million Subscribers
10.05.2023 - 20:25
/ thewrap.com
were expecting Disney to report earnings of $0.88 per share on revenue of $21.7 billion. Disney shares closed Wednesday at $101.13 per share, down 1% today and 13.7% YTD.
Share prices have fluctuated this year between a low of $88.87 in early January and a high of $113.21 in early February.Despite intense media coverage focused on a legal and public relations battle between the company and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over its parks in the state and concern over the WGA strike’s impact on scripted content, Disney CEO Bob Iger instead highlighted its strides in cutting costs after announcing plans to lay off 7,000 employees and get its streaming business closer to profitability.Disney reported 157.8 million Disney+ subscriptions as of the end of March, down 2.5% from 161.8 million at the end of 2022.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected 163.5 million subscribers.The company cited the $2.32 billion in global box office from “Avatar: The Way of Water” as contributing to a huge boost in its theatrical revenue compared to this time last year. Disney just announced today that it had earned over $2 billion in the theatrical box office this year thus far.
2023 is what Iger and friends hope is a return to pre-COVID theatrical normality. Future quarters may benefit from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
3,” which kicked off the summer with a $289 million global launch, and hopes are high for Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” remake, Pixar’s “Elemental” and Lucasfilm’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The immediate impact of the Writers Guild strike may be more about managing negative publicity than facing hard financial decisions. Iger has been called out by name as among the executives receiving sky-high pay
.
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