ALL of the NEWS Dropped by Disney Today

Disney just dropped some MAJOR news on us!

On May 7th, Disney released its second-quarter earnings report for fiscal year 2024 and held its latest earnings call. We’ve got all sorts of updates on Disney parks, the cruise line, streaming services, and more — and how those businesses are doing financially. Let’s dive right in!

Overall Financial Numbers

When it comes to overall financial numbers (we’re talking general revenue for the ENTIRE Walt Disney Company), Disney revealed revenues increased by one percent compared to both last year and the past six months. This quarter, revenues increased to $22.1 billion.

But…what does that mean? Let’s take a look at how those numbers break down when it comes to some of the big departments within the Company. Bob Iger did say that this quarter’s profitability was due to streaming and experiences, so we’ll start there!

Disney Experiences Updates (Theme Parks, Cruise Line, Products)

First up, we have updates from the Disney Experiences department (which includes the theme parks, Disney Cruise Line, and Disney products too). Disney Experiences has (in the past) been a big revenue driver at the Company, and last quarter, Disney reported generating all-time records in parks revenue, operating income, and operating margin.

Experiences revenue experienced a 10 percent increase compared to April 1st, 2023. Revenue now sits at $8,393 million as opposed to last year’s $7,646 million.

As far as operating income goes, Disney saw a 12 percent increase, with income sitting at $2,286 million compared to last year’s $2,036 million.

With Disney’s recent expansion announcements and more solid updates on those plans, we could continue see these numbers increase. Iger shared that the past quarter saw strong parks growth, mostly driven by Hong Kong Disneyland. Domestic growth came from Disney World and Disney Cruise Line. Over at Disneyland, results did decline, but Iger said that that was a result of “higher wages.”

Iger said, “We are seeing some evidence of a global moderation from peak post-COVID travel. We do expect year-over-year Experiences operating income to rebound in the fourth quarter.” Relative to the post-COVID travel highs, Iger stated that things are trending to normalize in 2025. Regardless of those levels not being expected to continue to skyrocket, “we still see healthy growth in the business. We feel good about opportunities for continued, strong growth.”

Disney Cruise Line also seems to be a major focus. With two new ships (the Disney Treasure and the Disney Destiny) debuting soon, Disney shared that a large portion of their $60 billion experiences investment is going toward cruising.

Disney+ Subscriber Numbers

We know that streaming is one of CEO Bob Iger’s MAIN priorities at the Company, and Disney has been working toward making its streaming business profitable by the end of this fiscal year. 

At the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, Disney+ Core subscribers decreased by 1.3 million, in line with prior guidance and reflecting a substantial price increase this quarter. During the second quarter, we learned that Disney+ core subscribers in the United States and Canada increased by 17 percent. In December 2023, subscribers sat at 46.1 million subscribers and now sit at 54 million subscribers domestically. Internationally, there was a 2 percent decrease.

Further, average monthly revenue per paid subscriber decreased by two percent domestically but increased 13 percent internationally. The international growth went from $5.91 to $6.66 per subscriber.

Iger stated that as far as streaming opportunities go, Disney+ password sharing is in talks. Recently, Disney+ and Hulu cracked down on password sharing. According to Iger, this was a necessary next step to get to profit margin goals. He said, “What we’re building is the technology that Netflix has had in place for well over a decade.”

But, that’s not the only Disney+ update we learned. Iger shared that we can likely expect a softer quarter three as far as streaming goes, as the path to profitability is not linear. The loss will likely be caused by the loss of sports streaming in India. Iger also shared that by the end of the year, ESPN will be added to Disney+, allowing all domestic subscribers access to live games. Speaking of which…

Sports

We also got an update on sports. As some of you might already know, Disney CEO Bob Iger aims to make ESPN the world’s preeminent sports streaming platform. Let’s take a look at how Disney’s sports sector performed this quarter.

Overall, revenue increased by two percent. In April of 2023, revenue sat at $4,226 million compared to the current revenue total o $4,312 million. Operating income saw a two percent decrease. April 2023’s operating income for sports sat at $794 million while this quarter’s operating income sits at $778 million.

Iger shared that sports continues to stand out when it comes to large audiences. ESPN had a great April when it comes to day viewership, and Prime Time viewership was ESPN’s highest on record. he NCAA women’s final four in Cleveland was the most viewed on record and the championship between Iowa and South Carolina was ESPN’s most viewed college basketball game ever, men’s or women’s, and Monday night football had its most watched season since 2000 and the NFL post season also broke viewership records.
The divisional playoff game between the Houston Texans and Baltimore ravens was ESPN’s most watched NFL game ever with 32.4 million viewers.

Sports is only a small part of Disney’s entertainment business, though, so let’s check on entertainment as a whole.

Entertainment

Entertainment revenue saw a five percent decrease compared to this time last year. In April 2023, entertainment revenue was at $10,309 million, while entertainment revenue currently sits at $9,796 million.

Operating income saw a 72 percent increase, though! In April 2023, operating income was at $455 million, while it currently sits at $781 million. Iger stated that the increase was largely due to Disney+ and subscription services. Disney looks forward to seeing continued growth here, with the film studios looking forward to releasing new movies like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Inside Out 2, and more.

Disney did say that there will be a reduction in Marvel programming. Series will reduce from four to two per year, and from four movies to two or three per year. Further, the focus is set to be on Avengers going forward. So, it seems tat Disney will focus on quality over quantity here, which is a good thing!

Succession

When he returned in 2022, Disney CEO Bob Iger knew that his second stint at the job wouldn’t be forever. His contract ends in 2026, and the pressure has been ON as he seeks out a new successor, especially after the failed succession with Bob Chapek.

Today’s update on succession was that the succession committee meets on a regular basis, not just to discuss a potential candidate but to also manage the process. Iger said that he willl participate in a smooth transition to the extent that he can.

We always have an eye out for the latest Disney news so that we can share it with you all. Stay tuned to AllEars as we continue to bring you the latest news about The Walt Disney Company!

‘We Just Have to Make Sure It Doesn’t Happen Again’ — Disney CEO Bob Iger Comments on His Successor

What do you think of this news? Tell us in the comments. 

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