SeaPRwire

Disney defies streaming skeptics with jump in new customers

elean
4 minutes

LOS ANGELES (BLOOMBERG) - Walt Disney Co investors, like its customers, love a good story, and they got one when the entertainment giant reported better-than-expected quarterly results and a surge in streaming customers. Disney+, the company's flagship online TV business, grew to 116 million subscribers in the third quarter ended July 3, beating the 113.1 million that analysts expected. With its theme parks back open after the Covid-19 shutdown, Disney said late on Thursday (Aug 12). Earnings rose to 80 US cents a share, excluding some items, beating the 55 cents analysts estimated. The results show the world's largest entertainment company is rebounding from the pandemic, which shuttered its resorts around the world, idled its cruise ships and crimped attendance at movie theaters. Chief executive officer Bob Chapek said theme-park reservations are running ahead of the just-ended period, despite the Delta variant of Covid-19. Disney expects to be fully staffed at its resorts by year-end, after tens of thousands of layoffs in 2020. "The fact that you're seeing bookings as strong as they are is an indication of the core reason you want to own Disney," said Markus Hansen, a portfolio ...

SeaPRwire

Disney+ tops 100 million users in unprecedented growth run

elean
3 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Walt Disney's flagship streaming platform topped 100 million users just 16 months after its launch, quickly establishing the service as Netflix's most-formidable competitor. The company announced that it reached the milestone on Tuesday (March 9), just ahead of its annual meeting. The service, called Disney+, debuted in the US in November 2019 and rolled out to Canada, Australia, Latin America and Singapore in the following months. The rapid ascent of the service underscores the power of the Disney name, along with entertainment franchises that include Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar. Netflix, the pioneer in subscription streaming, finished 2020 with almost 204 million subscribers globally. The success has prompted Disney to increase the programming budget for Disney+. The company has set a target of more than 100 new titles per year. The service is now available in 59 countries. "Our direct-to-consumer business is the company's top priority," chief executive officer Bob Chapek said in a statement, "and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth." The company also said Tuesday that the Disneyland resort in Southern California will reopen in l...

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S&P 500 ends down as Walt Disney weighs

elean
3 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The S&P 500 ended lower on Monday (Dec 14), weighed down by Walt Disney, while Alexion Pharmaceuticals jumped on a $39 billion buyout offer from AstraZeneca in one of the year's biggest deals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high before ending lower, pulled down by Walt Disney. US officials began to administer the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Monday following emergency-use approval from federal regulators last week. Shares of Disney, down 3.65%, and Pfizer, down almost 5%, weighed more than any other stocks on the S&P 500. The index's four-day losing streak was its longest since Sept 21. The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index was the strongest gainer among sector indexes, up 1% and lifted by a rise in Amazon, up 1.4%. The energy index tumbled over 3%. The S&P 500 gave up earlier gains of almost 1%. The index has surged about 13% to record highs in 2020, despite the pandemic, which has wrought economic devastation and killed more than a million people. "While the entire market is pleased, is optimistic, is bullish about the arrival of the vaccine this morning into the US, I think the average investor is realising...