DIS Shareholders and Stock Info ONLY

[New Mouse]

I don't ever see Disney Plus being a huge profit generator. The content is too niche. The only thing Disney gained from pulling their stuff off Netflix, etc. Was content control and even that is debatable. In reality they need to use all the streaming platforms for brand exposure and saturation. It wasn't a well thought out power grab by Iger and Co. And screamed me too as they followed the flocks to the now umpteen steaming services.

 

[Jrb1979]

I don't ever see Disney Plus being a huge profit generator. The content is too niche. The only thing Disney gained from pulling their stuff off Netflix, etc. Was content control and even that is debatable. In reality they need to use all the streaming platforms for brand exposure and saturation. It wasn't a well thought out power grab by Iger and Co. And screamed me too as they followed the flocks to the now umpteen steaming services.

I agree completely. Disney+ should have been seen as an add-on. It should have been there for older movies and series. It costs way too much money to keep creating new content. Especially since they seem to focus mostly on Star Wars and MCU

 

[wabbott]

A pertinent article.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2023...hoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article

3 Clues That Premium Streaming Has Finally Peaked

By James Brumley – Feb 6, 2023 at 7:05AM

Key Points​

Consumers are losing interest in paying full price for streaming services, even when they're ad-free.

With or without ad-subsidized streaming service options, studios are struggling to make their streaming platforms profitable.

Subsequently, content creators are being forced to monetize their shows and movies in ways they didn't intend to just a few years back.

The focus has turned away from subscriber growth and toward profits, and that's a much bigger challenge.

There's a seismic shift underway within the premium streaming arena. That is, recognizing there's not enough profitable business to go around, the market's key players are finally being forced to fight harder to win customers. It's too late to back down now, though, as billions and billions' worth of dollars have been sunk into several on-demand platforms. The studios and media outfits behind them have to make them work.

Wise investors will take a step back and study this shakeup, since its long-term consequences will be significant. Some familiar premium (ad-free and ad-subsidized) names will survive. Others won't...at least not as we know them.

Three red flags for the premium streaming business​

Fans of the hit show Yellowstone can now watch the first four seasons of the popular program on Peacock. It's noteworthy simply because Peacock parent NBCUniversal -- a subsidiary of Comcast (CMCSA -0.93%) -- didn't originally produce the show. It was first filmed by competitor Paramount (PARA -2.01%), and first aired on the Paramount Network.

Were it a one-off it might not be all that remarkable. Indeed, it used to be quite common for studios to temporarily license content to a streaming service operated by a rival studio. In that most studios now own their own streaming services, however, most of them have been reserving their own content for their own streaming platforms.

Now they're increasingly not. In addition to Paramount's decision to monetize Yellowstone by renting it to NBCUniversal, Fox Corporation (FOX -1.62%) (FOXA -1.68%) recently renewed a deal putting some of its new primetime programs like The Simpsons and The Masked Singer on Walt Disney's (DIS -1.67%) Hulu the day after it first airs even though Fox is the name behind streaming platform Tubi. Tubi, in the meantime, will now be featuring a bunch of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD -2.04%) content like Westworld and The Time Traveler's Wife even though that programming could be used exclusively to bolster the draw of Warner's HBO Max streaming service.

Simply put, studios are once again looking for multiple ways to monetize their intellectual property, even if it means letting competitors use it.

The second hint that premium streamers now realize their creation/distribution silos aren't financially productive enough comes from a recent consumer survey performed by Publishers Clearing House. In short, loyalty to a particular streaming service is practically nonexistent. The poll indicates only 7% of consumers intend to indefinitely stick with their existing services. The other 93% of them report they reevaluate their subscriptions every single month. Most of them don't sever ties that often. Still, the fact that so many of them are even thinking about cancelling or switching to a rival service is telling.

Finally, while at one point they were the hopeless "wannabes" of the streaming arena, the free ad-supported television (or FAST) services like Paramount's PlutoTV and Fox's Tubi are starting to make serious waves. Television media market research outfit Digital TV Research, in fact, forecasts the FAST market will grow from 2021's $31 billion to $70 billion by 2027, surpassing the more familiar ad-supported video-on-demand (or AVOD) industry's revenue. That outlook jibes with forecasts from Standard & Poor's as well as TVREV.

FAST's growing success is largely the result of subscription fatigue; consumers are weary of paying a premium for an ad-free experience when sitting through the occasional commercial can meaningfully lower their monthly bill.

This slowing growth of the premium/ad-free sliver of the streaming market won't make or break any of the industry's key players. But it will impact them. Some of them are better suited for this shift than others.

Among the names with more to lose than win are Netflix (NFLX -0.94%), Disney's Hulu and Disney+, and NBCUniversal parent Comcast.

Netflix's early days relied on nothing but third-party content offered without commercials. It's now offering a lower-cost, ad-supported option and has been increasingly reliant on home-grown content. Both approaches come with a learning curve, though, and the company remains disinterested (so far) in letting other platforms use its own studios' programming. Ditto for Disney, which is arguably making Disney+ the almost-completely exclusive distributor of its beloved entertainment...especially with Disney-owned franchises like Star Wars and Marvel.

Comcast's challenge is at the other end of the spectrum. Neither Peacock nor NBCUniversal has enough recognition cache with consumers to be a strong draw, as evidenced by its mere 20 million paying subscribers and the platform's 2022 net loss of $2.5 billion. It may be too reliant on other studios' programming, and also too accustomed to other distribution venues.

On the winning side of the table you'll find Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Roku (ROKU -1.49%). These companies are far better prepared for the streaming industry's new paradigm.

Warner Bros. Discovery's roots are in the non-network piece of the television business. It's the name behind several lifestyle cable channels like HGTV, Food Network, and Animal Planet...programming that may not be centerpieces of a cable package, but channels that are relatively low-cost to manage and reliably marketable to a big-enough crowd. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns the powerful HBO brand, and HBO Max. The company currently serves a total of 92.1 million streaming subscribers, most of whom are regularly seeing ads already. That's enough scale to matter.

Paramount, meanwhile, is serving 67 million paying streaming subscribers who also see the occasional commercial. The ad business is nothing new to either outfit.

As for Roku, it's leveraging its position as a middleman. Its televisions and set-top boxes readily steer consumers to its curated collection of free content, the vast majority of which is third-party programming, and all of which includes advertising. The company is quietly one of the market's most popular FAST services, in fact, and by some measures is the United States' most popular free-to-watch streaming platform.

Bottom line? Don't panic if you're holding a piece of one of the companies most vulnerable to the premium streaming slowdown. This is a slow-moving shift, and names like Netflix and Disney may well update their distribution and monetization strategies to reflect where demand is going. Do be aware of this shift, however, if you're a shareholder of any of these organizations. For better or worse, it will eventually make an impact on their bottom lines.

 

[clarker99]

HBO has been doing it right for years. They charge a premium and you get premium content. They don't saturate and they focus 100% on quality all with no ads. Apple seems to be playing a similar game. The rest are just throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks with no clear strategy. Just my 2cents.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

HBO has been doing it right for years. They charge a premium and you get premium content. They don't saturate and they focus 100% on quality all with no ads. Apple seems to be playing a similar game. The rest are just throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks with no clear strategy. Just my 2cents.

Hm, what are some good, high quality shows on Apple TV? We watched the one about the coach and it was on the good side, but if they have other stuff that's HBO-quality, I'd like to know!

 

[Suger Mag]

I agree completely. Disney+ should have been seen as an add-on. It should have been there for older movies and series. It costs way too much money to keep creating new content. Especially since they seem to focus mostly on Star Wars and MCU

it is making it way too simplistic to just focus on if a show on Disney+ is profitable, the shows do not exist exist in a vacuum. Think about all the merchandising potential with that content.
It is not just about if the show by itself is profitable, it is everything else that an original show drives, just think about the merchandising associated with one character.... Grogru (baby Yoda from the Mandalorian) all of those dolls, ornaments, Loungefly bags. Developing content brings new fans, who buy scads of merch... visit the parks... it is all connected.

 

[Jrb1979]

A pertinent article.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2023...hoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article

3 Clues That Premium Streaming Has Finally Peaked

By James Brumley – Feb 6, 2023 at 7:05AM

Key Points​

Consumers are losing interest in paying full price for streaming services, even when they're ad-free.

With or without ad-subsidized streaming service options, studios are struggling to make their streaming platforms profitable.

Subsequently, content creators are being forced to monetize their shows and movies in ways they didn't intend to just a few years back.

The focus has turned away from subscriber growth and toward profits, and that's a much bigger challenge.

There's a seismic shift underway within the premium streaming arena. That is, recognizing there's not enough profitable business to go around, the market's key players are finally being forced to fight harder to win customers. It's too late to back down now, though, as billions and billions' worth of dollars have been sunk into several on-demand platforms. The studios and media outfits behind them have to make them work.

Wise investors will take a step back and study this shakeup, since its long-term consequences will be significant. Some familiar premium (ad-free and ad-subsidized) names will survive. Others won't...at least not as we know them.

Three red flags for the premium streaming business​

Fans of the hit show Yellowstone can now watch the first four seasons of the popular program on Peacock. It's noteworthy simply because Peacock parent NBCUniversal -- a subsidiary of Comcast (CMCSA -0.93%) -- didn't originally produce the show. It was first filmed by competitor Paramount (PARA -2.01%), and first aired on the Paramount Network.

Were it a one-off it might not be all that remarkable. Indeed, it used to be quite common for studios to temporarily license content to a streaming service operated by a rival studio. In that most studios now own their own streaming services, however, most of them have been reserving their own content for their own streaming platforms.

Now they're increasingly not. In addition to Paramount's decision to monetize Yellowstone by renting it to NBCUniversal, Fox Corporation (FOX -1.62%) (FOXA -1.68%) recently renewed a deal putting some of its new primetime programs like The Simpsons and The Masked Singer on Walt Disney's (DIS -1.67%) Hulu the day after it first airs even though Fox is the name behind streaming platform Tubi. Tubi, in the meantime, will now be featuring a bunch of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD -2.04%) content like Westworld and The Time Traveler's Wife even though that programming could be used exclusively to bolster the draw of Warner's HBO Max streaming service.

Simply put, studios are once again looking for multiple ways to monetize their intellectual property, even if it means letting competitors use it.

The second hint that premium streamers now realize their creation/distribution silos aren't financially productive enough comes from a recent consumer survey performed by Publishers Clearing House. In short, loyalty to a particular streaming service is practically nonexistent. The poll indicates only 7% of consumers intend to indefinitely stick with their existing services. The other 93% of them report they reevaluate their subscriptions every single month. Most of them don't sever ties that often. Still, the fact that so many of them are even thinking about cancelling or switching to a rival service is telling.

Finally, while at one point they were the hopeless "wannabes" of the streaming arena, the free ad-supported television (or FAST) services like Paramount's PlutoTV and Fox's Tubi are starting to make serious waves. Television media market research outfit Digital TV Research, in fact, forecasts the FAST market will grow from 2021's $31 billion to $70 billion by 2027, surpassing the more familiar ad-supported video-on-demand (or AVOD) industry's revenue. That outlook jibes with forecasts from Standard & Poor's as well as TVREV.

FAST's growing success is largely the result of subscription fatigue; consumers are weary of paying a premium for an ad-free experience when sitting through the occasional commercial can meaningfully lower their monthly bill.

This slowing growth of the premium/ad-free sliver of the streaming market won't make or break any of the industry's key players. But it will impact them. Some of them are better suited for this shift than others.

Among the names with more to lose than win are Netflix (NFLX -0.94%), Disney's Hulu and Disney+, and NBCUniversal parent Comcast.

Netflix's early days relied on nothing but third-party content offered without commercials. It's now offering a lower-cost, ad-supported option and has been increasingly reliant on home-grown content. Both approaches come with a learning curve, though, and the company remains disinterested (so far) in letting other platforms use its own studios' programming. Ditto for Disney, which is arguably making Disney+ the almost-completely exclusive distributor of its beloved entertainment...especially with Disney-owned franchises like Star Wars and Marvel.

Comcast's challenge is at the other end of the spectrum. Neither Peacock nor NBCUniversal has enough recognition cache with consumers to be a strong draw, as evidenced by its mere 20 million paying subscribers and the platform's 2022 net loss of $2.5 billion. It may be too reliant on other studios' programming, and also too accustomed to other distribution venues.

On the winning side of the table you'll find Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Roku (ROKU -1.49%). These companies are far better prepared for the streaming industry's new paradigm.

Warner Bros. Discovery's roots are in the non-network piece of the television business. It's the name behind several lifestyle cable channels like HGTV, Food Network, and Animal Planet...programming that may not be centerpieces of a cable package, but channels that are relatively low-cost to manage and reliably marketable to a big-enough crowd. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns the powerful HBO brand, and HBO Max. The company currently serves a total of 92.1 million streaming subscribers, most of whom are regularly seeing ads already. That's enough scale to matter.

Paramount, meanwhile, is serving 67 million paying streaming subscribers who also see the occasional commercial. The ad business is nothing new to either outfit.

As for Roku, it's leveraging its position as a middleman. Its televisions and set-top boxes readily steer consumers to its curated collection of free content, the vast majority of which is third-party programming, and all of which includes advertising. The company is quietly one of the market's most popular FAST services, in fact, and by some measures is the United States' most popular free-to-watch streaming platform.

Bottom line? Don't panic if you're holding a piece of one of the companies most vulnerable to the premium streaming slowdown. This is a slow-moving shift, and names like Netflix and Disney may well update their distribution and monetization strategies to reflect where demand is going. Do be aware of this shift, however, if you're a shareholder of any of these organizations. For better or worse, it will eventually make an impact on their bottom lines.

You should panic. This is not how Disney+ was supposed to work. With this news I don't see the day where it will highly profitable.

it is making it way too simplistic to just focus on if a show on Disney+ is profitable, the shows do not exist exist in a vacuum. Think about all the merchandising potential with that content.
It is not just about if the show by itself is profitable, it is everything else that an original show drives, just think about the merchandising associated with one character.... Grogru (baby Yoda from the Mandalorian) all of those dolls, ornaments, Loungefly bags. Developing content brings new fans, who buy scads of merch... visit the parks... it is all connected.

Sure as whole for the company sure it can be profitable. Wall Street and stock holders don't care about that. I agree with them. D+ is supposed to be able to stand on its own in regards to money making. If you are a parks fan then D+ needs to make money cause if it doesn't they will continue to take money from the parks to cover the losses.

 

[HokieRaven5]

You should panic. This is not how Disney+ was supposed to work. With this news I don't see the day where it will highly profitable.

Sure as whole for the company sure it can be profitable. Wall Street and stock holders don't care about that. I agree with them. D+ is supposed to be able to stand on its own in regards to money making. If you are a parks fan then D+ needs to make money cause if it doesn't they will continue to take money from the parks to cover the losses.

It takes time for something to become profitable, Netflix took almost 10 years before they became profitable. D+ has only been around for 3+ years.

DMED also still had an operating income for FY22 despite the losses to DTC so they aren’t really stealing money from the parks to keep the media side afloat. The cutting of the dividend covers a majority of the DTC losses.

 

[wabbott]

It takes time for something to become profitable, Netflix took almost 10 years before they became profitable. D+ has only been around for 3+ years.

DMED also still had an operating income for FY22 despite the losses to DTC so they aren’t really stealing money from the parks to keep the media side afloat. The cutting of the dividend covers a majority of the DTC losses.

I sincerely and respectfully disagree.

Every dime that isn't spent on maintenance and capital expansion in the parks because "the balance sheet won't support it" is a mis-allocation of finite resources. Everyone agrees that WDW could easily support a fifth gate, today, right now, this afternoon. They have the property, they have the engineering/design staff, and it would take pressure off the other four gates.

I suggested the other day a WDW version of Tokyo's Disney Sea.

Yet it isn't done because DMED is barely paying its way, while DPEP is "printing it in the cellar" to use the colorful language of Alonzo P. Hawk (Keenan Wynn), from The Absent Minded Professor.

It may not be "stealing," but it sure ain't good business.

 

[HokieRaven5]

I sincerely and respectfully disagree.

Every dime that isn't spent on maintenance and capital expansion in the parks because "the balance sheet won't support it" is a mis-allocation of finite resources. Everyone agrees that WDW could easily support a fifth gate, today, right now, this afternoon. They have the property, they have the engineering/design staff, and it would take pressure off the other four gates.

This ignores the one thing they don’t have fully yet. Castmembers to operate the parks. They still aren’t at 100% employment to operate their existing structure, so while they could easily go ahead and build a fifth gate, they still have to fill it with people to work.

Yet it isn't done because DMED is barely paying its way, while DPEP is "printing it in the cellar" to use the colorful language of Alonzo P. Hawk (Keenan Wynn), from The Absent Minded Professor.

It may not be "stealing," but it sure ain't good business.

Last FY was the first time DPEP out earned DMED in operating income in a long time. To claim the parks are some regular funding source of DMED is a bit overstated based upon the history of the company.

If the DTC losses don’t show signs of shrinking leading to a profit in FY24 as projected by the company, then yeah make those arguments, but this all feels like short term reactions to me.

And I’m not saying Disney+ needs to be immensely profitable, it just needs to be profitable enough to offset any potential losses that could be attributed to cord cutting.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/business/media/disney-bob-iger-earnings.html

Disney’s Iger Returns to Familiar Stage, but With Different Challenges
The company reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, and Wall Street is expecting it to lay out a new streaming strategy and operating structure.

By Brooks Barnes
Feb. 6, 2023Updated 2:16 p.m. ET

When it comes to reporting quarterly earnings, Robert A. Iger is an old pro. He has done it 58 times as Disney’s chief executive. But the next one, scheduled for Wednesday, will require him to give a performance for the corporate ages.

“It has to be an impactful, meaningful, tone-setting, agenda-changing day,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at SVB MoffettNathanson who has followed Disney for 18 years.

Another veteran Disney analyst, Jessica Reif Ehrlich of BofA Securities, agreed. “I don’t know that we’re going to see answers to everything, but Iger’s overall messaging is going to be critical,” she said.

So, no pressure.

On Wednesday, Mr. Iger will publicly face Wall Street and Hollywood for the first time since he came out of retirement to retake the reins of a deeply troubled Disney. In late November, the Disney board fired Bob Chapek as chief executive and rehired Mr. Iger, 71, who ran the company from late 2005 to early 2020.

He is also contending with Nelson Peltz, the corporate raider turned activist investor. Mr. Peltz, 80, whose Trian Partners has amassed roughly $1 billion in Disney stock and is fighting for a board seat for himself or his son, wants the world’s largest entertainment company to revamp its streaming business, refocus on profit growth, cut costs, reinstate its dividend and do a much better job at succession planning.

Most of those things were in motion at Disney before Mr. Peltz started his proxy battle, and analysts expect Mr. Iger to provide updates on at least some fronts on Wednesday.

How are the content pipelines to Disney’s streaming services (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+) going to be managed? At 6:30 a.m. on his first day back, Mr. Iger ousted Disney’s top streaming executive and ordered a restructuring of a restructuring that Mr. Chapek had put into place.

For months, Disney has been talking about cost cutting and layoffs. Where are they? “This can’t drag on,” Ms. Ehrlich said. “It’s not good for company morale.” (Speaking of morale, some Disney employees have been circulating a petition to protest Mr. Iger’s decision last month to require everyone to report to the office four days a week.)

Shareholders are increasingly worried about the decline of Disney’s traditional television business, which includes ABC and 15 cable networks, led by ESPN, Disney Channel, FX, Freeform and National Geographic. Disney’s cable portfolio has held up better than those owned by some rival companies (notably NBCUniversal), but Americans have been cutting the cable cord at an alarming pace — total hookups declined by a record 6.2 percent from October to December.

“We need an honest and appropriate view of the future of Disney’s television business,” Mr. Nathanson said. “Is there an asset change? Does spending change? Under Chapek, the messaging was never very clear.”

Even in decline, traditional television remains Disney’s largest business, delivering $8.5 billion in operating income in the fiscal year that ended in October.

Disney and other old-line media companies are facing a simple equation that has proved astoundingly difficult to solve: Profit from traditional television is declining at a faster rate than streaming losses are moderating. In Disney’s case, traditional television earnings are expected to decline by $1.6 billion in 2023, while losses from streaming will abate by only about $900 million, according to Mr. Nathanson.

In November, Disney said losses from its streaming portfolio totaled $1.5 billion from July through September, compared with $630 million a year earlier.

But Mr. Chapek, who led the company’s November earnings call, reiterated a promise that Disney+ would turn a profit by next October. Wall Street has been skeptical of that assertion, and Mr. Iger may revise it on Wednesday, along with guidance that Disney+ would have 215 million to 245 million global subscriptions by 2024. Disney+ currently has about 164 million worldwide.

Companies always try to put the rosiest spin possible on numbers when talking to analysts, shareholders and the news media on quarterly earnings conference calls. But the upbeat tone struck by Mr. Chapek in the November session did not sit well given the numbers that Disney was reporting. Along with widening losses in streaming, Disney had disappointing profit margins at its theme park business and missed Wall Street’s overall expectations for both revenue and net income, a rarity for the company. (When one senior Disney executive privately told Mr. Chapek before the call that his planned remarks were too positive, he called her Eeyore, the gloomy donkey from “Winnie the Pooh.”)

Mr. Iger will undoubtedly highlight some of Disney’s recent achievements. “Avatar: The Way of Water,” released by Walt Disney Studios, has generated $2.2 billion worldwide since it arrived in theaters on Dec. 16. Disney received more Oscar nominations last month (23) than any other company. Over the end-of-year holidays, Disney’s theme parks were gridlocked, easing fears about consumer belt-tightening.

“Despite the macro headwinds, the parks still feel incredibly strong,” Ms. Ehrlich said.

But Mr. Iger will also need to contend with a lackluster set of overall numbers, at least if analysts’ forecasts are correct. Analysts are expecting per-share earnings of about 79 cents from Disney, down from $1.06 a year ago, and revenue of $23.4 billion, up from $21.8 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet estimate that Disney+ will have 163 million subscribers, a slight erosion from the previous quarter.

Mr. Iger will probably not directly address Mr. Peltz’s proxy battle, unless an analyst prods him about it. Disney has already made its position clear, saying in a Jan. 17 securities filing that Mr. Peltz had “no strategy, no operating initiatives, no new ideas and no plan.”

In a fresh eruption late last week, Trian said there was an “urgent need” for Disney shareholders to drop Michael B.G. Froman from the company’s board and give the seat to Mr. Peltz or his son. In response, Disney aggressively defended Mr. Froman, a senior Mastercard executive and former U.S. trade representative who has been a Disney director since 2018.

Some prominent analysts have taken Disney’s side.

“He hasn’t made a good enough case for why he needs a seat on the board,” Mr. Nathanson said, referring to Mr. Peltz.

Richard Greenfield, a founder of the LightShed Partners research firm, was one of Mr. Iger’s most ardent critics during his previous tenure at Disney — so much so that Mr. Iger blocked him on Twitter and refused to take questions from him on earnings calls. Mr. Greenfield, however, recently published an aggressive defense of Disney titled “Disney Would Be Wise to Keep Peltz Off the Jedi Council.”

Perhaps Mr. Iger will take a question from Mr. Greenfield on Wednesday.

 

[wabbott]

In front of the paywall, for now.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/florid...over-disneys-special-tax-district-11675717239

Florida Lawmakers Move to Take Over Disney’s Special-Tax District​

If approved, bill would give Gov. Ron DeSantis the power to appoint members to oversee the district, instead of eliminating it, as governor had pledged​

 

[clarker99]

Hm, what are some good, high quality shows on Apple TV? We watched the one about the coach and it was on the good side, but if they have other stuff that's HBO-quality, I'd like to know!

Here are the shows/movies I have enjoyed:
Ted Lasso
Severance
For All Mankind
Coda
Black Bird
Servant
Defending Jacob
Mr. Corman
Central Park
Mosquito Coast (season 1, havent watched ssn 2)
Bruce Springsteen - Letter to you (Documentary)
Beastie Boys Story (Documentary)
See
Palmer
The Morning Show (your mileage may vary but season 1 had its moments)

There have been some misses as well but in terms of Apple only being in the game for a couple years I feel they are on the right track. Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[wabbott]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-shareholders-set-vote-peltz-012252774.html

Disney shareholders set to vote on Peltz at April 3 annual meeting​

Mon, February 6, 2023 at 7:22 PM CST·1 min read

(Reuters) - Walt Disney Co said on Monday it had set its annual shareholder meeting on April 3, with a focus on activist investor Nelson Peltz's bid seeking a seat on the media and entertainment conglomerate's board.

The board recommends shareholders vote against a proposal of Peltz's Trian Group that would reverse recent board changes to bylaws and against a shareholder proposal requesting a report on the company's reliance on China operations.

Earlier this month, Peltz's hedge fund Trian Fund Management wrote to Walt Disney shareholders to make the case for replacing board director Michael Froman.

In its letter to shareholders, Disney wrote Peltz "has demonstrated that he does not understand Disney's businesses" and that he "lacks the perspective and experience to contribute to the objective of delivering shareholder value in a rapidly shifting media ecosystem."

Peltz has served on 11 public company boards, including at Procter & Gamble Co. He has said these companies on average outperformed the broader stock market index during his time as a director on their boards.

 

[wabbott]

Just got this notice from DIS

DO NOT RETURN ANY BLUE PROXY CARD FROM TRIAN
CAST YOUR VOTE ON AN INFORMED BASIS:
WAIT FOR DISNEY’S MATERIALS DESCRIBING IN DETAIL THE IMPORTANT FACTS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR 2023 ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

Dear Fellow Shareholder,

We want to thank you for your investment in, and commitment to, The Walt Disney Company.

Your Board is committed to delivering sustainable, superior shareholder value. Over the last several years, we have
focused on ensuring that the Board has the right combination of experience, skills and perspectives to guide Disney
through a period of unprecedented change in the media business. We recently added a new Director, Carolyn Everson,
a well-respected leader with deep experience in roles at complex global companies and a strong background in building world-class media and digital advertising businesses.

This past year has been a dynamic period for Disney. We recently announced that Mark Parker will become Chairman of the Board following our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Mark’s four decades of experience at NIKE, including his service as chief executive officer, his deep understanding of creatively driven, consumer-facing businesses with world-class brands and his experience using technology to develop successful direct-to-consumer models, make him ideally suited to take on this role. He will also chair our newly formed Succession Planning Committee, whose mandate is to assist the Board in identifying and onboarding a successor to our recently returned chief executive officer, Bob Iger.

An activist investor, Trian Fund Management, L.P., along with other entities affiliated with Nelson Peltz, has nominated
Mr. Peltz (or if he is unable to serve or for good cause will not serve, then his son Matthew) for election as a director at
the upcoming Annual Meeting in opposition to the nominees recommended by your Board.

Your Board does not endorse Mr. Peltz (or his son) as a nominee and believes that his election would threaten our
efforts to manage Disney for all shareholders. Over more than six months of engagement with Mr. Peltz, in both
conversations and written materials, he has demonstrated that he does not understand Disney’s businesses and he
lacks the perspective and experience to contribute to the objective of delivering shareholder value in a rapidly
shifting media ecosystem.

If you have already received materials with a blue proxy card from the Trian Group, please simply discard them and
do not vote at this time.

Your company’s proxy materials will be mailed soon, including the WHITE card with voting instructions. Your vote FOR
our nominees on the WHITE card will be especially important at this year’s upcoming Annual Meeting.

Your Board and management team have engaged extensively with Mr. Peltz in 2022 and 2023, even before he bought
any Disney stock. In fact, Mr. Peltz sought a board seat before he was a shareholder. We are skeptical of his motives and believe he would be disruptive at a crucial period for Disney.

Your independent and highly qualified Board has provided strong oversight focused on delivering sustained shareholder value. Ten of the 11 board members are independent, five have Fortune 500 CFO or CEO experience and we have strong diversity on our Board. The Board is overseeing important strategic changes that our CEO Bob Iger is executing, such as putting more decision-making into the creative teams, implementing a cost reduction plan, prioritizing streaming profitability and improving the guest experience in our parks.

Under Bob Iger’s previous tenure as CEO, the company delivered significant long-term shareholder value. From
09/30/2005 to 02/25/2020, Disney generated total shareholder return of 554%, compared to 244% for the S&P 500, as
well as exceeded returns from media peers. We are pleased to have Bob back at the helm during this current period of
change in our industry.

We look forward to providing you with more information regarding the Board and management team’s strategy to
deliver shareholder value in today’s rapidly shifting media ecosystem and the reasons why the election of Mr. Peltz will
not benefit that plan.

In the interim, we strongly urge you to simply discard and NOT to vote using any blue proxy card sent to you by the
Trian Group. Please wait to vote until you can do so on a fully informed basis.

We thank you for your investment in The Walt Disney Company.

Board of Directors
The Walt Disney Company

 

[wabbott]

https://www.investors.com/news/disney-earnings-proxy-war-expected-to-bruise-results/?src=A00220

Disney Earnings: Proxy War Expected To Bruise Results
By Harrison Miller
09:17 AM ET 02/07/2023

Dow giant Walt Disney (DIS) reports its first quarter earnings results Wednesday afternoon. DIS stock rose premarket Tuesday prior to earnings.

Disney rings in its first quarter results with Bob Iger back at the helm. The 15-year Disney veteran came out of retirement to take over as chief executive in late November. Iger replaced Bob Chapek, who succeeded Iger in 2020 following after his retirement.

And now, Disney is readying for a proxy battle against activist investor Nelson Peltz. Peltz, the founder of Trian Fund Management, has a $900 million stake and wants a board seat. On Jan. 11, Disney appointed former Nike (NKE) CEO Mark Parker to serve as the new board chair, replacing Susan Arnold at the next annual shareholder meeting on April 3. At the meeting, Peltz and Trian will try to convince shareholders they deserve a seat at the table in the House of Mouse.

"Trian believes that Disney's recent performance reflects the hard truth that it is a company in crisis with many challenges weighing on investment sentiment. ... We believe that the company's current problems are primarily self-inflicted and need to be addressed immediately," Trian wrote in Peltz's nomination.

In the streaming wars, competitor Netflix (NFLX) no longer plans to cut down on password sharing rules. Netflix intended to limit customer account sharing to those living in a single household, according to posts on its help center pages added on Feb 1. But on Saturday, Netflix said it posted the updated password sharing measures by mistake.

Meanwhile, it'll be the first Disney earnings since raising Disney+ prices on Dec. 8. The entertainment giant increased Disney+ prices to $10.99 per month from $7.99 per month. And the price of the Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, rose to $14.99 per month from $13.99 per month.

Expectations: Analysts forecast earnings to drop for the second quarter in a row, falling 27.5% to 79 cents per share. Revenue growth targets call for a second consecutive quarter of slowing, up 7.4% to $23.4 billion.

Wall Street sees the number of Disney+ subscribers jumping 25% to 162.683 million for the quarter, up from 129.8 million last year. However, Disney+ subscribership is expected to dip slightly quarter-over-quarter, sliding from 164.2 million in Q4. FactSet predicts total subscribership across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, growing 20% year-over-year to 236.32 million.

Disney's theme parks showed signs of recovery last year. And foot traffic at the "happiest place on earth" is expected to pick up again. Theme park revenue is expected to rise 12.7% to $8.15 billion.

DIS stock is trading in a 25 week cup base with a 126.58 buy point according to MarketSmith. Shares jumped 26.5% year-to-date. But they're still down nearly 23% over the past year and well below highs of 197.16 from mid-March 2021.

DIS stock rose slightly premarket Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's results.

 

[RivShore]

https://www.investors.com/news/disney-earnings-proxy-war-expected-to-bruise-results/?src=A00220

Disney Earnings: Proxy War Expected To Bruise Results
By Harrison Miller
09:17 AM ET 02/07/2023

Dow giant Walt Disney (DIS) reports its first quarter earnings results Wednesday afternoon. DIS stock rose premarket Tuesday prior to earnings.

Disney rings in its first quarter results with Bob Iger back at the helm. The 15-year Disney veteran came out of retirement to take over as chief executive in late November. Iger replaced Bob Chapek, who succeeded Iger in 2020 following after his retirement.

And now, Disney is readying for a proxy battle against activist investor Nelson Peltz. Peltz, the founder of Trian Fund Management, has a $900 million stake and wants a board seat. On Jan. 11, Disney appointed former Nike (NKE) CEO Mark Parker to serve as the new board chair, replacing Susan Arnold at the next annual shareholder meeting on April 3. At the meeting, Peltz and Trian will try to convince shareholders they deserve a seat at the table in the House of Mouse.

"Trian believes that Disney's recent performance reflects the hard truth that it is a company in crisis with many challenges weighing on investment sentiment. ... We believe that the company's current problems are primarily self-inflicted and need to be addressed immediately," Trian wrote in Peltz's nomination.

In the streaming wars, competitor Netflix (NFLX) no longer plans to cut down on password sharing rules. Netflix intended to limit customer account sharing to those living in a single household, according to posts on its help center pages added on Feb 1. But on Saturday, Netflix said it posted the updated password sharing measures by mistake.

Meanwhile, it'll be the first Disney earnings since raising Disney+ prices on Dec. 8. The entertainment giant increased Disney+ prices to $10.99 per month from $7.99 per month. And the price of the Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, rose to $14.99 per month from $13.99 per month.

Expectations: Analysts forecast earnings to drop for the second quarter in a row, falling 27.5% to 79 cents per share. Revenue growth targets call for a second consecutive quarter of slowing, up 7.4% to $23.4 billion.

Wall Street sees the number of Disney+ subscribers jumping 25% to 162.683 million for the quarter, up from 129.8 million last year. However, Disney+ subscribership is expected to dip slightly quarter-over-quarter, sliding from 164.2 million in Q4. FactSet predicts total subscribership across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, growing 20% year-over-year to 236.32 million.

Disney's theme parks showed signs of recovery last year. And foot traffic at the "happiest place on earth" is expected to pick up again. Theme park revenue is expected to rise 12.7% to $8.15 billion.

DIS stock is trading in a 25 week cup base with a 126.58 buy point according to MarketSmith. Shares jumped 26.5% year-to-date. But they're still down nearly 23% over the past year and well below highs of 197.16 from mid-March 2021.

DIS stock rose slightly premarket Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's results.

Is my reading comprehension lacking today? I see nothing in the article to support that headline...did I miss where it detailed how the Proxy war will impact the bottom line?

 

[wabbott]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-investors-await-ceo-igers-191348841.html

Disney investors await CEO Iger's revival plan with results on tap​

Dawn Chmielewski
Tue, February 7, 2023 at 1:13 PM CST·3 min read

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Iger is expected to discuss a turnaround plan on Wednesday, when the media company delivers its first quarterly results since the return of the executive who built the modern incarnation of Disney.

As anxiety sweeps across the rank and file at the entertainment conglomerate, according to employees and company observers, investors said they anticipate Iger will articulate a new vision for the company he built and ran for 15 years.
"It's Bob Iger presenting for the first time in public. Everybody’s going to be listening," said Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich. "This is the right place to do it. It’s the right time."

Disney and Iger are under pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz, chief executive of Trian Fund Management, who has launched a proxy battle to place him on the board. He has accused the company of underperforming financially, despite its global scale and collection of powerful entertainment brands.

The company urged its shareholders to reject Peltz's bid, noting in a Feb. 2 letter that the board has the right combination of experience, skills and perspective to guide Disney through an unprecedented period of change. It also endorsed Iger's leadership, adding that Disney generated a shareholder return of 554% under his previous tenure as CEO.

Shortly after returning as CEO in November, Iger announced plans to restore decision-making power to the company's creative executives. That change resulted in the departure of Kareem Daniel, head of the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution group created by Iger's predecessor, Bob Chapek, to consolidate budgeting and distribution for the studio's content.

In Disney's famously tight-lipped culture, even senior executives say they do not know what is to come. Discussions about the restructuring are taking place at the highest level of the company, involving general entertainment chief Dana Walden, film Chairman Alan Bergman, ESPN's Jimmy Pitaro and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy.

AWAITING UPDATE ON STREAMING STRATEGY, ESPN

Wall Street is waiting for Iger's assessment of Disney's streaming business, which he launched with the 2017 announcement that the company would form its own direct-to-consumer service. The company has amassed a combined 235.7 million subscribers across its trio of streaming services - Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ - even as losses rose to $1.5 billion in the most recent quarter.

Investors have begun prioritizing profit over subscriber growth since last year, when Netflix Inc reported its first loss of subscribers in more than a decade. Disney has said it expects its direct-to-consumer service to reach profitability in fiscal 2024.

Disney's longtime cash cow, ESPN, is another focus for Wall Street. The sports network has been caught between declining cable subscribers and increasing fees paid to sports leagues.

"I'm not expecting numbers to be changed, but I am expecting thoughtful conversations that are honest about these businesses," said media analyst Michael Nathanson of SVB MoffettNathanson.

Wall Street analysts are expecting first-quarter earnings of 78 cents a share, down from $1.06 a year ago, on revenue of $23.37 billion, up from $21.8 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet estimate Disney+ will have 163 million subscribers, down modestly from the previous quarter.

 

[Cfabar1]

I haven’t received anything yet To vote…. Not sure yet whether I’ll vote for Peltz or not….

 

[wabbott]

If anyone can find the rest of this article...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney...-11675825320?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f

Disney’s Earnings, Reorganization Represent Early Test for CEO Robert Iger
Newly reinstated leader expected to outline his vision for the company in the first earnings call since his return
By Robbie Whelan
Feb. 8, 2023 5:30 am ET

Robert Iger returns to center stage under a bright spotlight Wednesday to present Walt Disney Co.’s quarterly results and, more important, a vision for the company.

On the same day as his first conference call with Wall Street analysts since returning to the company and succeeding former Chief Executive Bob Chapek, Mr. Iger is also expected to present a plan to reorganize Disney’s corporate ranks and cut costs, which the company has been promising since last year.