Bob Chapek, CEO of the Walt Disney Company and former head of Walt Disney Parks and Experiences, speaks at a media preview of D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, August 22, 2019.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Disney reported revenues after the bell on Thursday.
Here are the key figures:
- Profit per share: 32 cents adjusted
- Revenue: Expected $ 16.25 billion versus $ 15.9 billion, according to Refinitiv
The coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll on Disney’s parks as it reports its quarter in December. But a ray of hope came earlier this week when an executive told workers in California that it would be offering a “temporary ticket experience” in March, “Good Morning America” reported. The letter stated that Disney would bring back 1,000 Disneyland Resort cast members to staff the park.
Disney and other California-based parks like Universal Studios had pushed back strict state rules, forcing them to remain closed for many months due to high coronavirus cases in their counties. Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney, told analysts during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that he was “extremely disappointed” in California’s decision to keep parks closed. He said Disney had established science-based safety protocols and was backed by the unions representing the staff.
These lengthy closures coupled with limited capacity constraints in the open parks have forced the company to reduce its workforce.
“We believe that state leaders should look objectively at what we have successfully achieved in our parks around the world, all based on science, rather than setting an arbitrary standard that prevents our cast members from returning to work” Chapek said on November’s call.
At the same time, Disney’s new streaming service, Disney +, took off during the pandemic, offering the company creative ways to release movies directly to the public during theater and meeting restrictions.
During an investor presentation in December, Disney announced that it had nearly 87 million subscribers to the platform, past its original goal of reaching at least 60 million subscriptions by 2024. That’s still just a fraction of Netflix’s more than 200 million paid global subscribers, but showing strong growth for the first year of its service.
Disney also updated its forecast for Disney + during its December presentation, saying it will have 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024.
Disney used the service to stream its live action remake of “Mulan” last year for an additional fee, but did not disclose any performance statistics for that release. The company also released its Pixar movie “Soul” on the service in December, but made it free to anyone who had already paid for the service.
In the studio entertainment segment, Disney will face difficult comparisons. During the first quarter last year, the company saw revenues from its cinema releases reach $ 3.76 billion, driven by strong performances from “Frozen II” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Disney did not release any new cinema releases in October, November or December 2020. Instead, it re-released some old titles like “Star Wars” and “Hocus Pocus” while movie theaters struggled to lure audiences.
Last week, Disney earned 25 Golden Globe nominations, including 10 for programming on Hulu and four nominations for the Searchlight Pictures feature “Nomadland”.
This is the first year that Disney + content has been nominated since its launch in 2019. “Hamilton”, “Soul” and “The Mandalorian” received nods ahead of the February 28 awards ceremony.
This story develops. Check back regularly for updates.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC.
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