Disney's fourth-quarter performance was mixed as a weaker performance from its television networks and some films was buffered by strength in its streaming business and theme parks.
Disney is still trying to work out a new licensing deal with YouTube after its content went dark on YouTube TV late last month, leaving subscribers of the Google-owned live streaming platform without access to major networks like ESPN and ABC.
The Walt Disney Co. earned $1.31 billion, or 73 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 25. It earned $460 million, or 25 cents per share, in the prior-year period.
Stripping out one time charges and costs, earnings were $1.11 per share. That's better than the $1.03 per share that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research predicted.
Revenue for the Burbank, California, company totaled $22.46 billion, short of Wall Street’s estimate of $22.86 billion.
Revenue for Disney Entertainment, which includes the company’s movie studios and streaming service, dropped 6%, while revenue for the Experiences division, its parks, climbed 6%.
Operating income from linear networks dropped 21% and revenue slipped 16%.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer business, which includes Disney+ and Hulu, posted quarterly operating income of $352 million compared with $253 million a year ago. Revenue rose 8%.
The Disney+ streaming service had a 3% increase in paid subscribers domestically, which includes the U.S. and Canada. There was a 4% rise internationally, which excludes Disney+ HotStar.
Total paid subscribers for Disney+ came to 132 million subscribers, up from 128 million in the third quarter.
Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions totaled 196 million, an increase of 12.4 million from the third quarter.
The strong streaming results come shortly after the entertainment company saw Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations climb in September when ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!. ”
Data from subscription analytics company Antenna showed that Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations rose in September when ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!.”
Walt Disney Co. owns the streaming platforms and ABC. ABC pulled the show off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Prior to the incident, Disney had said in August that it anticipated that total fourth-quarter Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions would increase more than 10 million compared with the third quarter, with most of the increase coming from Hulu due to the expanded Charter deal. The company had also expected a modest increase in the number of Disney+ subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Disney also previously announced that it will stop reporting the number of paid subscribers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services because the metric has become less meaningful for evaluating the performance of its businesses. The company will stop reporting the metric for Disney+ and Hulu beginning with fiscal 2026’s first quarter and no longer reports the figure for ESPN+ starting with fiscal 2025’s fourth quarter.
The Experiences division, which includes Disney’s six global theme parks, its cruise line, merchandise and video game licensing, reported operating income climbed 13% to $1.88 billion. Operating income increased 9% at domestic parks. Operating income surged 25% for international parks and Experiences.
While Disney continues to pull levers to successfully manage all of the different components of its business, it’s also working on its search for a successor to Iger, the face of Disney for most of the past two decades.
Disney created a succession planning committee in 2023, but the search began in earnest last year when the company enlisted Morgan Stanley Executive Chairman James Gorman to lead the effort.
Disney does have some time, as Iger agreed to a contract extension that keeps him at the company through the end of 2026.
Disney is looking at internal and external candidates. The internal candidates are widely believed to include the chairman of Disney-owned ESPN, Jimmy Pitaro, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Josh D’Amaro, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden.
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