Disney’s revenues are up, but it’s not enough to stave off a new round of job losses incoming at the firm, as Disney+ numbers fall for the first time.
The problems facing returning Disney CEO Bob Iger have been laid bare in its latest round of quarterly results. On the upside for the firm, it outperformed expectations on both revenue and margins, which you’d imagine would be good news. It certainly sent the share price in a direction Disney would have wanted.
Disney’s revenue for the last three months of 2022 was up by 8% to $23.51bn. It is not short of a bit of change.
However, the surprise was that subscriber numbers for its Disney+ streaming service – arguably the company’s biggest swing in a generation – tumbled by over 2.4 million. Looking deeper at the numbers, the higher than expected fall was down to a version of the service that Disney offers in parts of Asia and an India, Disney+ Hotstar. There, the loss of cricket broadcast rights has hit numbers. There’s still growth elsewhere in the world, but inevitably it’s slowing down, and the competition is getting tougher. That, and the costs of making programmes are increasing.
Disney is now back under the stewardship of Iger, returning to the role after the sudden defenestration of his successor and now predecessor, Bob Chapek. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Disney has now wheeled out fresh sequels to Toy Story and Frozen as part of its way forward.
And also, Iger has announced that the company will now be shedding jobs too. It’s estimated that some 3% of its workforce around the world will be shed as part of its latest economy drive, as the company looks for savings of $5.5bn going forward.
The next year or two sounds like it’s going to be bumpy times over at Disney – and all eyes are on Iger to see if he can work his magic twice.
Most of all though, sending our very best to those people affected by the upcoming job cuts. That really sucks.
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