Disney cuts streaming losses by $400M in Q2, theme parks boost results
Disney reduced streaming losses by $400 million from the prior quarter but also shed subscribers, the company reported on Wednesday as earnings🌠 landed in line with Wall Street expectations.
Shares of Disney fell 2.4% to $98.75 in🍨 after-hours trading.
The company plans to expand its streaming offerings by the end of the year with a new app that combines Disney+ and 🎀;Hulu, Chief Executive Bob Iger said.
The new app will streamline the viewing experience for users a🌌nd open more opportuni༒ties for advertisers, Iger said.
A price increase and reduced marketing expenses helped improve the performance of the streaming unit, which ended the January-through-March quarter with anಞ operating loss of $659 million.
In the༺ prior quarter, the division lost $1.1 billꦏion.
Overall, diluted earnings per share came in at 93 ꦍcents, meeting the consensus forecast o✤f analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Revenue hit $21.82 billion, slightly abo𓃲ve analyst projections of $21.79 billion.
The company’s theme parks kept humming with visitors, with growth at its Shang🎉haℱi Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort helping lift operating income at the unit by 23% from a year earlier to $2.2 billion.
“We’re pleased with our accomplishments this quarter, including the improved financial performance of our streaming business, which reflect the strategic changes we’ve been making throughout the company to realign Disney for sustained growth and success,” Iger said in a statement.
Total subscribers to the flagship Disney+ service dropped by 4 million from the previous quarter to 157.8 millioꦰnꦉ.
Most of the defections came from the Disney+ Hotstar offeri🧸ng in India after it lost streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches.
Disney also shed 300,000 customers in the United St💟ates and Canada, where it raised prices last December.
Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy had warned in February that the company expected “modestly higher” cancellations because of the price increase.
Wall Street has been pressuring media companies to make profits from the billions of dollars they have poured﷽ into streaming in recent years to compete with Netflix.
Iger, who came out of retirement in November to tackle the company’s challenges, announced a revamp in February that included a promise of eliminating $5.5 billion in costs, partly through 7,000 job cuts.
As Disney tries to build streaming, it🉐s traditional television business faces hurdles.
Operating income at linear networks droppe🎶d 35% from a year earlier to $1.8 billion, partly from higher sports programming and production costs related to the College Football Playoffs and the NFL at ESPN, and lower advertising revenue at ABC and at its owned television stations.