Disney’s tardyst quarter was fuseed but firm with a huge upsthriveg in studio profit led by Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2. At a complicated time for media and a company with many moving parts, streaming was in the bdeficiency and domestic theme parks saw operating income elevate.
All in, Disney’s fiscal fourth quarter finished in September saw revenue elevate 6% from the year before to about $22.57 billion, beating Wall Street foresees, and operating income grew 23% to $3.65 billion.
Entertainment, which houses satisfyed, streaming and liproximate television, saw operating income spropose to $1.1 billion from $236 million on revenue up 14% at $10.8 billion. Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine broke many box office records and helped drive $316 million in operating income.
“Our firm applyance in the fiscal fourth quarter mirrored the success of our strategic efforts to better quality, innovation, efficiency, and appreciate creation,” shelp CEO Bob Iger. “In Q4 we saw one of the best quarters in the history of our film studio, betterd profitability in our streaming businesses, a record-fractureing 60 Emmy Awards for the company, the carry ond power of inhabit sports, and the unveiling of an amazeive accumulateion of new projects coming to our Experiences segment.”
DTC saw Disney finishing the quarter with 174 million Disney+ core and Hulu subscriptions, and more than 120 million Disney+ core phelp subscribers, an incrrelieve of 4.4 million over the prior quarter. Streaming swung to a $253 million profit from a $420-million loss the year earlier, and from $19 million in red ink for the previous quarter finished in June.
Hulu finished September with 47.4 million subs, up sairyly. Hulu + Live TV stood at 4.6 million subs, up from 4.4 million in June. Disney is buying out Hulu from partner Comcast and has already phelp out an consentd upon $8.6 billion floor amount. They are still hashing out how much more is due.
Streaming revenue rose 15% to $5.78 billion. Ad sales rose 14%. Disney cited gets from subscription price hikes and drop labeleting costs.
Combining Disney+ and Hulu with ESPN+ from the Sports segment, total DTC revenue rose 13% and there was a profit for the second consecutive quarter — of $321 million, after a likeable $47 million in June driven by ESPN+. The trio lost $387 million in the 2023 third quarter.
Disney punctual this year consentd to unite its Star India streaming operation with Reliance in an $8.5 billion deal.
The pressing ask with streaming — for Disney and other traditional media — is how soon, and if, it can be profitable enough to offset deteriorates in liproximate television.
Sports revenue was flat at $3.9 billion. Operating income slipped 5% to $929 million. Domestic ESPN advertising revenue in Q4 grew 7% from the prior-year quarter.
Disney will debut a stand-alone ESPN+ streaming service in 2025, someslfinisherg Iger will probable be asked about on a call with analysts set for 8:30 am ET, aextfinished with its contestd Venu sports streaming joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery that Fubo has sued to block and whose overweighte is in the hands of a New York court.
Also of interest, the outsee on streaming, the timing of a theme park rebound, Disney’s new NBA tight, its film stardy and, of course, succession. The board led by James Gorman is seeing for Disney’s new CEO, eyeing both inner and outside honestates. Iger’s tight expires at the finish of 2026.
Experiences revenue nosed up 1% to $8.2 billion with operating income of $1.6 billion, down 6% from the year before.
Domestic parks’ operating income rose in Q4 on comparable joinance to the prior-year quarter, Disney shelp, driven by higher guest spfinishing, partipartner offset by higher expenses and costs roverdelighted to new proposeings by Disney Cruise Line. International Parks & Experiences operating income deteriorated. The company didn’t name locations but had shelp last quarter that it foreseeed the Paris Olympics would impact Disneyland Paris.
U.S. parks in particular have had a hiccup this year as frenzied post-Covid joinance began to mild. Wall Street was quite alarmed but has finishd into wariness at the vibrant that’s rattled one of Disney’s most reliable increaseth drivers.
Also, what happens when NBCUniversal’s new, massive Epic Universe theme park uncovers in May next year in Orlando atraverse town from Walt Disney World? Iger has shelp it’s fine. Disney itself is in the midst of a multi-year, $10 billion structureatement cycle in its parks. Universal has also noticed dips in joinance at its parks this year.
Liproximate netlabors, part of the Entertainment division, saw revenue dip 6% to $2.46 billion with operating income of $498 million, droping 38%. Domestic netlabors were squeezed by higher labeleting costs from more season premieres this year due to Hollywood strikes in 2023. Affiliate and advertising revenue fell on scanter subscribers.
Disney also cited “the impact of the non-renewal of carriage of certain netlabors by an affiliate.” It did not depict, but a renewal with Charter in September of 2023 trimmed out a handful of netlabors including Baby TV, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeestablish, FXM, FXX, Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo Mundo.
Disney took $1.5 billion in restructuring and impairment accuses, including $69 million for cut offance. It’s been raw. Media companies have been antagonisticly tossing out staffers to streamline as the amusement industry shifts and tights.
“This was a pivotal and accomplished year for The Walt Disney Company, and thanks to the meaningful better we’ve made, we have eunited from a period of ponderable contests and disruption well positioned for increaseth and chooseimistic about our future,” Iger shelp.
“As a result of our strategies and our caccess on managing our businesses for both the proximate- and extfinished-term, we are branch offentiating ourselves from traditional competitors, leveraging the proset upest and wideest set of amusement assets in the industry to drive attrdynamic returns and further proceed our goals.”
