Disney Earnings Call Shares Q4 and Yearly Results

Via a live audio webcast, The Walt Disney Company shared its fiscal full year and Q4 2023 financial results on Wednesday, Nov. 8.

According to NPR, Disney’s earnings prove how the company of global brands, characters, and experiences has been balancing its assets so that any decline in one area can be countered by success in another. Consequently, the entertainment giant has exceeded analysts’ expectations, achieving a 5% increase in quarterly revenue and 7% annual growth.

In Disney’s recent earnings call, it was revealed that the streaming service Disney+ is operating at a loss, but the deficit has been considerably reduced. Last year’s loss of $1.5 billion has shrunk to just $387 million this quarter. According to Parrot Analytics strategist Brandon Katz, the expense of streaming services is high, with Netflix being the sole “consistently profitable” platform. However, Disney is making steady progress, especially now that it controls Hulu. The company plans to have a unified app offering content from both Disney+ and Hulu, aiming for a larger audience and a more seamless user experience. With an additional 7 million subscribers this quarter, Disney+ is expected to become profitable by the end of 2024.

Disney’s Experiences division, encompassing theme parks, resorts, and cruises, is a significant profit contributor, with a 13% increase in revenue to $8.16 billion across most of its domestic and international sites. However, Walt Disney World in Florida is the only location not performing well. Disney stated in its earnings report, “At Walt Disney World, we continue to manage against wage inflation and challenging comparisons to the prior year from the 50th anniversary celebration.”

Disney is determined to turn sports network ESPN into a direct-to-consumer service. ESPN’s revenue has been growing year over year and is currently the leading brand on TikTok, according to Bob Iger during the earnings call, boasting about 44 million followers. Disney intends to collaborate with sports leagues that can assist in making ESPN a dominant digital sports platform.

While Disney is ambitious about the growth of ESPN and its theme parks, it also plans to manage costs aggressively. It has raised its efficiency target by $2 billion to $7.5 billion, thereby striking a balance between cost-saving measures and pursuing growth.