DIS Shareholders and Stock Info ONLY

[fatmanatee]

Pretty big announcement: Disney taking a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games.

I'll just add, in relation to this: I thought Disney Infinity had a lot going for it. Liked it a lot, have it on Steam. The stuff with the figures was probably too much, and on top of that, they may have been a bit early with the world building elements. So this could work, and getting together with the maker of maybe the biggest game of the last decade is a decent move.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Linear Networks - 44% profit
DTC - Loss
Content Sales and Licensing - Loss
Sports - Loss

Domestic Parks - 33% Profit
International Parks - 22% profit
Consumer Products - 52% profit

 

[HokieRaven5]

Disney’s Filing to the SEC: https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.htm...001744489/000174448924000081/dis-20231230.htm

Parks Attendance
Domestic - No change indicated
International - 30% increase YoY

Per Capita Guest Spending
Domestic - 4% increase
International - 12% increase

Hotel Occupancy
Domestic - 85%
International - 80%

Available Room Nights (In Thousands)
Domestic - 2,547
International - 799

Change in Per Room Guest Spending
Domestic - 1%
International - 3%

 

[RivShore]

Pretty big announcement: Disney taking a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games.

I did not see that coming! There has been speculation forever about something like this. I like it better than an outright purchase.

 

[fatmanatee]

CFO repeated that they plan to spend 60 billion in the parks/experiences over the next 10 years. 70 percent earmarked for increasing capacity.

 

[nlenguyen]

Disney’s Filing to the SEC: https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.htm...001744489/000174448924000081/dis-20231230.htm

Parks Attendance
Domestic - No change indicated
International - 30% increase YoY

Per Capita Guest Spending
Domestic - 4% increase
International - 12% increase

Hotel Occupancy
Domestic - 85%
International - 80%

Available Room Nights (In Thousands)
Domestic - 2,547
International - 799

Change in Per Room Guest Spending
Domestic - 1%
International - 3%

Still another sign that the parks are where the company has the most potential. INVEST in the parks!!!

 

[HokieRaven5]

Still another sign that the parks are where the company has the most potential. INVEST in the parks!!!

For the last reporting quarter the parks sector was 63% of the Capital Expenditure

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Here's some more confirmation on linear TV's advertising issues.

https://deadline.com/2024/02/fox-quaterly-earnings-advertising-streaming-sports-venture-1235817681/

Fox Earnings Hit By Lower Advertising Revenue Last Quarter; Wall Street Eager For Details On New Streaming Sports Joint Venture

By Jill Goldsmith - Co-Business Editor
February 7, 2024 - 5:26am PST

Fox saw revenue dip 8% last quarter to $4.23 billion on weaker advertising due in part to tough comps from the year before. The fiscal second-quarter numbers hit the day after Fox with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery set a fall launch date for joint streaming sports venture with. There’s no name or price yet for the service, which will pool the sports rights of the three media companies. CEO Lachlan Murdoch will say more on a call at 8:30 ET.

The shares, which were up more than 5% after the news yesterday gave up some gains after the numbers and up are about 1%.

Ad sales were expected to fall and dropped 20%, primarily on the absence of the FIFA Men’s World Cup on FOX Sports, lower political advertising revenues at Fox stations due to the absence of the 2022 midterm elections, the impact of elevated supply in the direct response marketplace, and lower ratings and higher preemptions associated with breaking news coverage at Fox News.

Affiliate fee revenues increased 4%, driven by 10% growth at the television segment.

Other revenues increased 14%, primarily due to higher sports sublicensing revenues at the national sports networks, offset by lower content revenues at the entertainment production companies as a result of industry guild labor disputes.

Net income for the company’s fiscal second quarter ended in December plunged to $115 million from $321 million. EPS was 23 cents a share vs 58 cents.

Expenses decreased in the quarter, primarily due to lower entertainment and sports programming rights amortization and production costs, led by fewer hours of original scripted programming and the absence of the Men’s World Cup, partially offset by the renewed NFL contract.

“At the halfway point in our fiscal year, our results demonstrate the strength and durability of our core brands and their ability to deliver solid audiences across our portfolio,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch. “FOX Sports continues to benefit from the power of live sports programming and FOX News has maintained its leadership in cable news, while Tubi has been resilient in an increasingly competitive market. Combining this steadfast portfolio of assets with a best-in-class balance sheet underpins our ability to deliver value for our shareholders.”

I really think Fox needs to get back into making movies by trying to get 20th Century Studios back from Disney. Avatar is the only 20CS IP Disney adores than the rest anyway.

 

[Jrb1979]

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/02/...sneys-sports-partnership-solves-anything.html

An interesting view of todays results

 

[clarker99]

Last 4 Reported Quarters Operating Income - Various Sectors at Disney:

Domestic Parks: $5.840B
Linear Networks: $4.025B
ESPN Domestic: $3.177B
Consumer Products: $2.004B
International Parks: $1.353B
Content Sales & Licensing (Studios): -$0.402B
STAR India: -$0.618B
Direct-to-Consumer: -$1.650B
Total Disney: $13.696B

Last 4 Quarters Licensing Revenue: $2.427B

Last 4 Quarters Total Licensing Termination Fees Paid: $1.448B

Last 4 Quarters Free Cash Flow Generated: $7.738B

Cash on hand as of Dec 30, 2023: $7.192B

 

[clarker99]

Super positive earnings call. Super positive guidance. Free cash flow at pre-covid levels. What a difference a year makes.

 

[wabbott]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walt-disney-dis-q1-2024-003019463.html

Walt Disney (DIS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Motley Fool Transcribing, The Motley Fool
Wed, Feb 7, 2024, 6:30 PM CST

 

[wabbott]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ot...-warner-blindsides-sports-leagues/ar-BB1hWKgc

Streaming Venture From ESPN, Fox and Warner Blindsides Sports Leagues
NFL, NBA digest details of new platform looming over their businesses

By Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti
Feb. 7, 2024 - 6:27 pm EST

Sports leagues including the National Football League and National Basketball Association were kept in the dark about the new sports-centric streaming service being launched by Walt Disney Co., Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, people familiar with the matter said.

The companies involved in the effort are media partners of both leagues. Pro basketball and football programming will be among the significant drivers of the new service.

An effort to notify the leagues wasn’t made until Tuesday before a planned announcement. Many learned of it when The Wall Street Journal broke the news.

The reason for the cone of silence was to keep the plans from leaking prematurely during the months the companies were settling the details, people involved in the partnership said.

“We’re aware of yesterday’s announcement and are still gathering details to understand this proposed new streaming service,” said NFL spokesman Alex Reithmiller.

The NBA is in negotiations on new rights deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney’s ESPN.

“While we look forward to learning more about this new venture, we’re encouraged by the opportunity to make premier sports content more accessible to fans who are not subscribers to the traditional cable or satellite bundle,” an NBA spokeswoman said.

Given the high financial stakes—networks pay billions of dollars a year for the most valuable sports rights and rely on that programming heavily—the relationships between the two sides are delicate. Some leagues, given the value of their content in today’s fragmented media landscape, often want to be asked to give their blessing on any shift in business strategy.

The companies involved in the venture have said this is strictly about creating a sports streaming bundle and that they don’t intend to negotiate new rights deals together. The companies also say the new service won’t violate any current agreements with either sports leagues or traditional pay-television distributors.

The leagues, however, are eager to be fully debriefed and ensure that this platform doesn’t present new business risks or threats.

FuboTV, which offers its own sports-centric streaming service, said it has concerns regarding the new venture.

“Every consumer in America should be concerned about the intent behind this joint venture and its impact on fair market competition,” Fubo said in a written statement, adding that the companies “could dictate market terms in a manner that may not serve the broader interests of consumers” given their vast market share in sports programming.

Several sports programmers aren’t part of the new service, including Comcast’s NBC and Paramount Global’s CBS, as well as streaming services Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+. On a call with Wall Street analysts to discuss quarterly ratings on Wednesday, Fox Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch said there aren’t any plans to add additional partners to the venture.

Murdoch also said the new service would target people who aren’t currently pay-TV subscribers. Murdoch estimated that of 125 million TV homes in the U.S., nearly half don’t have a traditional pay-TV service.

Jessica Toonkel contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@wsj.com and Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com

 

[wabbott]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/disney-s-moves-give-bob-iger-a-sporting-chance/ar-BB1hY72x

Disney’s Moves Give Bob Iger a Sporting Chance
Strong results, Epic investment and new sports superapp lessen the case for activist challenges

By Dan Gallagher
Feb. 8, 2024 - 5:30 am EST

Bob Iger has plenty to worry about these days. Nelson Peltz should no longer be one of them.

Disney’s fiscal first-quarter results Wednesday afternoon were notable for two reasons that have nothing to do with the actual numbers. It is the company’s last report before facing two proxy challenges at its annual shareholder meeting in early April, one of which is being backed by Peltz’s Trian activist fund.

The report also comes a day after a surprising announcement that Disney will be teaming up with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox to launch a new streaming service that will combine the three companies’ extensive sports rights into one app, expected to launch this fall. Disney also announced a new deal with Epic Games on Wednesday to build a new “entertainment universe” based on the blockbuster “Fortnite” game. That deal includes a $1.5 billion investment by Disney for an equity stake in Epic.

The seemingly disparate events have a common thread: Disney is facing existential challenges that have hurt its media empire, crushed its earnings and upset shareholders. The rise of streaming is sinking the once-lucrative cable-TV businesses of Disney and its peers, while the theatrical movie business still hasn’t fully recovered from its pandemic-induced closures. Disney’s pretax margin was 5.4% in its latest fiscal year that ended in September compared with an average of nearly 25% for the five years before the pandemic. And its stock price had sunk 11% over the 12 months before Wednesday’s report while the Dow and S&P 500 gained 13% and 20%, respectively, in that time.

Disney’s strong results for the December quarter don’t fully end those problems. But they do show a company on the right path, and in less need of outside intervention. Most notable was the sharp reduction in streaming red ink; operating losses of $138 million for the company’s direct-to-consumer segment were about a third of what analysts had expected and were a vast improvement from the nearly $1 billion in losses for the same period the previous year.

Another lift came from domestic parks, which saw revenue rise 4% year-over-year to $6.3 billion compared with consensus estimates from Visible Alpha that had projected no growth for that key segment. Disney’s total segment operating income jumped 27% year-over-year to $3.9 billion—beating Wall Street’s consensus target by nearly 13%. The company also boosted its recently restored dividend by 50% and announced a $3 billion stock buyback.

Not surprisingly, Disney’s stock price jumped 6% in after-hours trading following Wednesday’s results and conference call. That should help Iger make his case to shareholders, as Disney’s underperforming stock has been a key issue for activists. But media peers such as Warner, Paramount and Fox face the same core challenge of shrinking cable-TV businesses—and their stocks have performed even worse than Disney’s since Iger returned to Disney’s CEO role in November 2022.

Disney’s results still had plenty of weak spots; the company’s linear networks revenue fell more than 12% year-over-year—nearly double the rate of decline from a year ago. And the weaker movie market, plus some recent misfires with its own films, caused Disney’s theatrical distribution revenue to sink 78% year-over-year to $251 million for the December quarter.

But the new team-up with Warner and Fox to create what will effectively be a sports superapp shows Disney and Iger are willing to think outside the box. The transition to streaming has made a mess of sports viewing options, with various leagues and games spread across several streamers that even the most devout fans are hard-pressed to follow. While many questions remain on the key details—including price—analysts roundly cheered the move. Peter Supino of Wolfe Research estimates the new service “will immediately provide access to roughly half of sports currently on television in the U.S.”

Disney’s streaming business also will be helped by a crackdown on password sharing coming later this year—and possibly even by a deal announced by Iger Wednesday to put the blockbuster Taylor Swift concert film “The Eras Tour” on Disney+ exclusively next month. That movie racked up nearly $181 million in domestic box office alone for an artist who also seems able to boost NFL viewership simply by being in a skybox.

Even Taylor Swift can’t solve all of Disney’s challenges. But, faced with restive activists who have so far offered little in the way of specific alternatives, a bit of glitz could give Iger and his board the shine they need.

Write to Dan Gallagher at dan.gallagher@wsj.com

 

[wabbott]

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/02/...sneys-sports-partnership-solves-anything.html

An interesting view of todays results

Key quote: "There's only 1% of US households that watches more than 12 hours of ESPN a month. And there are only about 10% of US households that watch more than 6 hours of ESPN per month. So the number of super sports fans out there, I think, is overestimated."

 

[clarker99]

Key quote: "There's only 1% of US households that watches more than 12 hours of ESPN a month. And there are only about 10% of US households that watch more than 6 hours of ESPN per month. So the number of super sports fans out there, I think, is overestimated."

meanwhile, ESPN domestic has churned over $3b in profit in the last 12 reported months. Not bad for 1%.

 

[wabbott]

meanwhile, ESPN domestic has churned over $3b in profit in the last 12 reported months. Not bad for 1%.

I know that I will be called names for asking this question, but that's fine - I'm used to it.

Does DIS even need to be in sports programming business in the first place? What does big time sports - and it's associated gambling - have to do with story-telling and experiences? Is it really a "core business?" I mean, if we think Disney needs to be in "sports betting," why not go whole hog and build a casino at WDW and have the characters running the crap tables.

In all the three hours yesterday afternoon of interviews there was about 1 1/2 minutes of discussion about Parks and Experiences. And that consisted of rehashing the "$60 billion over the next 10 years" promise. The rest of the hot air was about sports programming, interactive gaming and keeping the Hollywood crowd propped up.

So saddle up everyone and get ready for another round of price hikes for parks admission, along with higher food and lodging costs. Along with deferred maintenance, and extended outages for attractions.

Rant off.

 

[clarker99]

I know that I will be called names for asking this question, but that's fine - I'm used to it.

Does DIS even need to be in sports programming business in the first place? What does big time sports - and it's associated gambling - have to do with story-telling and experiences? Is it really a "core business?" I mean, if we think Disney needs to be in "sports betting," why not go whole hog and build a casino at WDW and have the characters running the crap tables.

In all the three hours yesterday afternoon of interviews there was about 1 1/2 minutes of discussion about Parks and Experiences. And that consisted of rehashing the "$60 billion over the next 10 years" promise. The rest of the hot air was about sports programming, interactive gaming and keeping the Hollywood crowd propped up.

So saddle up everyone and get ready for another round of price hikes for parks admission, along with higher food and lodging costs. Along with deferred maintenance, and extended outages for attractions.

Rant off.

$3B in profit says it is a core business in the US of A.

 

[wabbott]

$3B in profit says it is a core business in the US of A.

Then we have a fundamental disagreement on what kind of product The Walt Disney Company should be providing.

 

[BrianL]

I know that I will be called names for asking this question, but that's fine - I'm used to it.

Does DIS even need to be in sports programming business in the first place? What does big time sports - and it's associated gambling - have to do with story-telling and experiences? Is it really a "core business?" I mean, if we think Disney needs to be in "sports betting," why not go whole hog and build a casino at WDW and have the characters running the crap tables.

In all the three hours yesterday afternoon of interviews there was about 1 1/2 minutes of discussion about Parks and Experiences. And that consisted of rehashing the "$60 billion over the next 10 years" promise. The rest of the hot air was about sports programming, interactive gaming and keeping the Hollywood crowd propped up.

So saddle up everyone and get ready for another round of price hikes for parks admission, along with higher food and lodging costs. Along with deferred maintenance, and extended outages for attractions.

Rant off.

Well, I mean, ESPN has been owned by Disney for over 25 years. If they had divested it when they bought Cap Cities, then maybe, but at this point it is a core business. Sports have a HUGE audience, so it makes sense. For me personally, I am not a big sprots fan and agree that it shouldn't necessarily be their focus - but I'm not against them owning it or anything. I would prefer that they stay out of sports betting though.