DIS Shareholders and Stock Info ONLY

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I hope you subsequently went back and watched "Justified" and "The Americans"! FX has been airing top-notch TV for quite a while.

BTW, Josh D'Amaro said in last week's shareholders meeting that filming is well underway on season 2 of "Shōgun." Yay!

Currently watching Justified! I tried the first episode of The Americans when it first aired and didn't get into it, but maybe I'll try again and give it more episodes a chance to hook me in

And yay!

 

[HokieRaven5]

Speaking of AI:

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-openai-sora-agreement/

The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI Reach Landmark Agreement to Bring Beloved Characters from Across Disney’s Brands to Sora​

• As part of this three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.
• Agreement will make a selection of these fan-inspired Sora short form videos available to stream on Disney+.
• Disney and OpenAI affirm a shared commitment to responsible use of AI that protects the safety of users and the rights of creators.
• Alongside the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.
• As part of the agreement, Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, and receive warrants to purchase additional equity.

This deal is null and void now that OpenAI has ended Sora:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...i-shutting-down-sora-ai-video-app-1236546187/

 

[Genie+]

Currently watching Justified! I tried the first episode of The Americans when it first aired and didn't get into it, but maybe I'll try again and give it more episodes a chance to hook me in

And yay!

The Americans was awesome! Hang in there, it's good.

 

[clarker99]

This deal is null and void now that OpenAI has ended Sora:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...i-shutting-down-sora-ai-video-app-1236546187/

Also, the Epic games investment looks to be a disaster with a lack of engagement in Fortnite resulting in 1000 lost jobs. Yes, you read that right. 1000 jobs.

Just license your stuff out and collect the money. Smh,

 

[RivShore]

Just license your stuff out and collect the money. Smh,

Exactly! Especially in the fast moving tech area.

 

[wabbott]

FWIW

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/sora-disney-openai-deal-collapse-1236546434/

The Sora-Disney Collapse: What Does It Mean?
Three Hollywood Reporter editors debate the biggest tech news this year.

By Steven Zeitchik, David Katz, Julian Sancton
March 24, 2026 - 5:41pm PDT

 

[OKW Lover]

FWIW

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/sora-disney-openai-deal-collapse-1236546434/

The Sora-Disney Collapse: What Does It Mean?
Three Hollywood Reporter editors debate the biggest tech news this year.

By Steven Zeitchik, David Katz, Julian Sancton
March 24, 2026 - 5:41pm PDT

Fun discussion. Perhaps the answer really is that Sora wasn't a good product and it got pulled. That effectively meant that the Disney deal couldn't go through. Trying to place blame on Disney, and either Bob or Josh, seems to be a stretch.

 

[mrjack5]

I'm as big a Disney parks fan as the next person, whatever Iger did has not worked.

Hope Josh can figure it out.

Throwing spaghetti at the wall as Fortnite/OpenAI deal was obvious from the beginning.

 

[RivShore]

Fun discussion. Perhaps the answer really is that Sora wasn't a good product and it got pulled. That effectively meant that the Disney deal couldn't go through. Trying to place blame on Disney, and either Bob or Josh, seems to be a stretch.

They said on CNBC this morning that the deal never closed, so that aligns with your thinking. I hope we are done with deals like this, just license, license, license...as @clarker99 said.

Being an arms dealer in this unpredictable, fast moving and changing space is the only way to go!

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

They said on CNBC this morning that the deal never closed, so that aligns with your thinking. I hope we are done with deals like this, just license, license, license...as @clarker99 said.

Being an arms dealer in this unpredictable, fast moving and changing space is the only way to go!

Licensing is a great idea if your brand is really good. I'm very concerned with Disney's brands currently. Hopefully things will turn around.

 

[bryaalre]

I'm all for licensing for video games, which they do. The AI and Epic investments were different and not wholly related to the aforementioned licensing. Disney has tried and failed in the video games space multiple times but the video game market is still huge. An investment into an established company is a good way to capture some market while hedging risks as well as limiting time and other resources on a segment that may never be central to the company. The same idea for AI as AI has been all the rage for the last few years and Disney does not have the resources to try start any research, let alone catch up.

IMO the Epic games investment was fine, even if it may not work out. Disney has good cash flow and can't feasibly pump all of that back into parks. Could they do more expansions, a 5th gate or something else with the parks that may yield more returns? Maybe, but they are already doing some major projects and they already do dividends, share buybacks, and paying down debt. If they have extra cash, I would rather they take risks to expand than do nothing.

However, doing nothing is better than whatever they were going to do with that AI junk. Hopefully their take away is to put that money elsewhere and not just into another AI company.

 

[RivShore]

I'm all for licensing for video games, which they do. The AI and Epic investments were different and not wholly related to the aforementioned licensing. Disney has tried and failed in the video games space multiple times but the video game market is still huge. An investment into an established company is a good way to capture some market while hedging risks as well as limiting time and other resources on a segment that may never be central to the company. The same idea for AI as AI has been all the rage for the last few years and Disney does not have the resources to try start any research, let alone catch up.

IMO the Epic games investment was fine, even if it may not work out. Disney has good cash flow and can't feasibly pump all of that back into parks. Could they do more expansions, a 5th gate or something else with the parks that may yield more returns? Maybe, but they are already doing some major projects and they already do dividends, share buybacks, and paying down debt. If they have extra cash, I would rather they take risks to expand than do nothing.

However, doing nothing is better than whatever they were going to do with that AI junk. Hopefully their take away is to put that money elsewhere and not just into another AI company.

Its really hard to pick winners and losers in the tech space so I really hate that they are throwing a billion here and a billion there thinking they picked a winner (and in the last two cases, they did not pick winners).

Also, cash flow last quarter was not good at all, combine that with a new $10B of debt, and they do not have billions to be throwing into these tech pie in the sky investments.

More details on cash flow:

In Q1 FY2026, operating cash flow collapsed 77% to $735 million and free cash flow turned deeply negative at −$2.278 billion. Management attributed the swing largely to accelerated tax payments tied to California wildfire disaster relief, but capital expenditures are also climbing, rising 22% year over year to $3.013 billion in the quarter alone. With $9 billion in capex planned for the full year, cash generation will need to recover sharply.

The $9.25 billion credit raise cuts both ways. While bulls read it as financial flexibility, the size raises questions about how much liquidity the company needs to fund content, parks, and cruise expansion simultaneously. Linear TV continues to erode structurally, with Linear Networks revenue falling 16% year over year in Q4 FY2025, and there is no visible floor. (Yet another good reason to spin it off.)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-bull-vs-bear-big-134505191.html

 

[wabbott]

Its really hard to pick winners and losers in the tech space so I really hate that they are throwing a billion here and a billion there thinking they picked a winner (and in the last two cases, they did not pick winners).

Also, cash flow last quarter was not good at all, combine that with a new $10B of debt, and they do not have billions to be throwing into these tech pie in the sky investments.

More details on cash flow:

In Q1 FY2026, operating cash flow collapsed 77% to $735 million and free cash flow turned deeply negative at −$2.278 billion. Management attributed the swing largely to accelerated tax payments tied to California wildfire disaster relief, but capital expenditures are also climbing, rising 22% year over year to $3.013 billion in the quarter alone. With $9 billion in capex planned for the full year, cash generation will need to recover sharply.

The $9.25 billion credit raise cuts both ways. While bulls read it as financial flexibility, the size raises questions about how much liquidity the company needs to fund content, parks, and cruise expansion simultaneously. Linear TV continues to erode structurally, with Linear Networks revenue falling 16% year over year in Q4 FY2025, and there is no visible floor. (Yet another good reason to spin it off.)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-bull-vs-bear-big-134505191.html

Good research on the why of the recent borrowing. IIRC, when a company's free cash flow declines, it could, repeat, could jeopardize future dividend payouts.

 

[bryaalre]

Its really hard to pick winners and losers in the tech space so I really hate that they are throwing a billion here and a billion there thinking they picked a winner (and in the last two cases, they did not pick winners).

Also, cash flow last quarter was not good at all, combine that with a new $10B of debt, and they do not have billions to be throwing into these tech pie in the sky investments.

More details on cash flow:

In Q1 FY2026, operating cash flow collapsed 77% to $735 million and free cash flow turned deeply negative at −$2.278 billion. Management attributed the swing largely to accelerated tax payments tied to California wildfire disaster relief, but capital expenditures are also climbing, rising 22% year over year to $3.013 billion in the quarter alone. With $9 billion in capex planned for the full year, cash generation will need to recover sharply.

The $9.25 billion credit raise cuts both ways. While bulls read it as financial flexibility, the size raises questions about how much liquidity the company needs to fund content, parks, and cruise expansion simultaneously. Linear TV continues to erode structurally, with Linear Networks revenue falling 16% year over year in Q4 FY2025, and there is no visible floor. (Yet another good reason to spin it off.)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-bull-vs-bear-big-134505191.html

The cash flow from operations collapsed due to two main things, the accelerated tax payment mentioned and an increase to accounts receivables. The accelerated tax payment caused a swing of $1.96B and the increase in AR caused a $500M decrease. Unless Disney expects some defaults, the AR is usually nothing to worry about and we should see it remedied next quarter. I would need to find out more about the accelerated payment but if that's a one time thing, it's not a worry or if it'll last a few quarters it may be something.

I would like to point out that using those same metrics, Cash Flow has increased 42% from FY 23-24 and 30% from FY 24-25 or up 84% in the last two years and has tripled from the last three. One quarter could be a sign of something but neither item on it's own is a major cause for concern. In this time, Disney has increased it's dividend and implemented a large share buyback program. They just purchased $2B of stock last quarter.

As for new debt, companies do it all the time for various reasons. Apple has a ton of cash, continues to print money with the iPhone and still chooses to take on debt from time to time. From what I could read, this debt is not even new debt though and is only a restructure of current credit lines that were set to expire. I have not seen anything outside the Yahoo article mention anything other than credit replacement and no additional debt was taken on due to these transactions.

 

[clarker99]

To me it looks like the cash flow decline was a 1 time thing. Disney guided $19 billion in cash from operations for FY26 which includes this accelerated tax payment. Cash from operations was $18.1B in FY25.

 

[clarker99]

Further to this... FY25 Disney's Capex was around $8b (which is an all-time FY spend for Disney) and free cash flow was over $10b (also a FY record).

I have not seen guidance from Disney on FY26 capex to guesstimate free cash flow off the $19b in cash from operations they have guided.

In Q1 they reported $3b in capex. If they average that for the whole year (unlikely but possible) Disney will have produced approx $7b in free cash flow off $19B in cash from operations.

 

[RivShore]

I'm sure there were a bunch of one offs that crippled cash flow in Q1 but that has to be one of a few things that are keeping people from buying the stock. They take a quick look at the stock, see a big cash flow hit, see $10M of possibly new debt and they say nope, lots of better investment options on the market.

The CFO is certainly not concerned - per the clip from the recent MS conference below. (It also confirms what @bryaalre said above, they don't think paying down debt and building cash is the right thing to do at this time.)

Benjamin Swinburne
Morgan Stanley, Research Division

You guys announced plans last year to buy back a lot of stock. I think about $7 billion this year. How do you think about the right level of share repurchase? And capital?

Hugh Johnston
Senior Executive VP & CFO

I mean the way that we think about capital allocation in that regard is, obviously, we need to do the basics. So we need to service the debt, pay the dividend, all of those things. M&A, as I said, we don't feel like we need a lot that tuck-ins will not be very significant in size. It won't be disruptive to our overall capital allocation. And sort of what that -- and we like our debt levels where they are right now. We don't feel the need to change. We're at a highly rated debt level. So we don't feel the need to make a significant change there.

And as a result, with the cash generation the company is coming up with right now, $7 billion was just sort of what was left over. We don't want to build big cash balances. We don't feel the need to do it. So the $7 billion was sort of the outcome of that. And as we think forward, there's no reason to think that those numbers will change. We're going to continue to generate a lot of cash. Obviously, we will be in a position where we still don't want to pay down debt. We don't want to generate cash for the balance sheet. So my expectation is you're going to continue to see strong cash returns to shareholders.

 

[clarker99]

They take a quick look at the stock, see a big cash flow hit, see $10M of possibly new debt and they say nope, lots of better investment options on the market.

Wall Street isn't looking at just 1 quarter but it seems they are focused on the entertainment side of things and are not impressed with the slow growth in streaming along with the linear declines. Where is the break-even point and when can we expect the real growth?

Meanwhile, Experiences is set to take off to significant new heights as the investments in parks and cruises start bearing fruit.

 

[RivShore]

Wall Street isn't looking at just 1 quarter but it seems they are focused on the entertainment side of things and are not impressed with the slow growth in streaming along with the linear declines. Where is the break-even point and when can we expect the real growth?

Meanwhile, Experiences is set to take off to significant new heights as the investments in parks and cruises start bearing fruit.

Agreed, though I do think some algos would kick out DIS when it sees that decline in cash flow.

Yes, its all about streaming replacing linear. Until they solve that issue this stock will be stuck in the same range its been for years. I wonder/hope Josh will bring fresh eyes and new ideas to doing something with the linear side of the business.

 

[RivShore]

Perhaps there is an "Iger curse" LOL - he leaves the first time and covid shuts down the world. This time, the tech investments blow up and ABC has a new disaster on its hands.

https://pagesix.com/2026/03/25/holl...-sora-shutdown-makes-it-a-trifecta-of-losses/

Nightmare start for new Disney CEO as Sora shutdown makes it a trifecta of losses​

Published March 25, 2026, 9:45 a.m. ET

Josh D'Amaro has had a rough start as Disney's new CEO. Getty Images

This can’t be how Josh D’Amaro wanted to start his new job.

Following the abrupt cancellation of “The Bachelorette” over Taylor Frankie Paul’s domestic violence issues, D’Amaro — who only started as CEO last week — has yet another debacle on his hands after it was announced on Tuesday that OpenAI was shutting down its Sora video app.

The announcement which sent shockwaves through the media and tech worlds scuttled the $1 billion deal that Disney entered into with OpenAI that created a huge amount of bad blood between Disney and the town’s creative community.

When OpenAI first released Sora last year to the public, users immediately began creating videos that included all sorts of well-known, and Hollywood-owned, IP. That touched off a legal firestorm that ended with OpenAI backtracking and putting guardrails in place to try to prevent IP infringement. So when Disney announced it would be licensing hundreds of its most valuable characters to Sora, much of the industry was aghast. The Writers Guild said the deal appeared to “sanction [OpenAI’s] theft of our work.”

Three months later, Disney now has another problem on its hands — an optics one. Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that with Sora shutting down, the content deal with Disney is dead as is the company’s $1 billion equity investment in Sora. Perhaps even more shocking, P6H hears, is that Disney only found out about OpenAI’s decision very recently. (One source added that Disney and OpenAI didn’t get very far on the licensing part, and no money ever changed hands.)

When it was first announced, the deal was considered precedent-setting as it was the first major partnership between OpenAI and Hollywood. Just last month, Disney was teasing that user-generated videos from Sora were coming to Disney+, and that in spring the OpenAI partnership would really start to make an impact. (Interestingly, D’Amaro didn’t bring up OpenAI during last week’s shareholder meeting even when he answered a question on how Disney views the use of AI.)

The question is how could Disney — not known as a fly by the seat of its pants company — get caught so off guard? Before he became CEO, D’Amaro was instrumental in helping his predecessor Bob Iger land some of Disney’s biggest tech-focused deals. D’Amaro was part of Disney’s $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games, which many believe helped win him the CEO job. When D’Amaro was tapped to succeed Iger, Disney board chairman James Gorman made it a point to namecheck the exec as being involved in the OpenAI deal.
Josh D'Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences, speaks at the grand opening of the Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort.
Josh D’Amaro speaks at the grand opening of the Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort. VCG via Getty Images

Making the timing in this even more curious: On Monday, OpenAI published a blog post on best practices to use Sora safely.

P6H also reported last week, that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was in town holding court at Tower Bar during Oscars weekend as Disney execs Dana Walden and Debra OConnell dined across the room.

Adding to D’Amaro’s woes, the Sora news came hours after Epic laid off over 1,000 employees due to a “downturn in Fortnite engagement.”