Media giant The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) reported fourth-quarter and full-year financial results after market close Tuesday. Here are the key highlights.
What Happened: Disney reported fourth-quarter revenue of $20.15 billion, up 9% year-over-year. The revenue total was shy of a Street target of $21.25 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.
The company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of 30 cents, missing a Street estimate of 56 cents per share.
Fourth-quarter revenue for the company’s Media and Entertainment segment was $12.7 billion, down 3% year-over-year. The direct-to-consumer sector of this segment had growth of 8% year-over-year, the only positive sub-segment.
The company’s Parks, Experiences and Products segment had revenue of $7.4 billion in the fourth quarter, up 36% year-over-year.
Operating income in the fourth quarter was down 91% for the Media segment and up over 100% for the Parks segment.
For the full fiscal year, Disney had revenue of $55 billion for its Media segment, up 8% year-over-year, and $28.7 billion for the Parks segment, up 73% year-over-year.
Operating income for the full year was $4.2 billion for the Media segment and $7.9 billion for the Parks segment.
“2022 was a strong year for Disney, with some of our best storytelling yet, record results at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment, and outstanding subscriber growth at our direct-to-consumer services, which added nearly 57 million subscriptions this year for at total of more than 235 million,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said.
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Streaming Growth: The company’s fourth quarter and full year were headlined by the results of the company’s streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
The company ended the fourth quarter with the following subscriber counts for its streaming platforms:
Disney+ Domestic: 46.4 million, +20% year-over-year
Disney+ International ex. Hotstar: 56.5 million, +57%
Disney+ Hotstar: 61.3 million: +42%
Total Disney+: 164.2 million, +39%
ESPN+: 24.3 million, +42%
Hulu: 47.2 million, +8%
The company’s core Disney+ subscribers which count domestic and international without Hotstar were up 38% in the fourth quarter.
Disney noted the average revenue per Disney+ subscriber was down 10% domestically and 5% globally.
“Our fourth quarter saw strong subscription growth with the addition of 14.6 million total subscriptions, including 12.1 million Disney+ subscribers. The rapid growth of Disney+ in just three years since launch is a direct result of our strategic decision to invest heavily in creating incredible content and rolling out the service internationally,” Chapek said.
Disney is set to launch its ad-supported version of Disney+ on Dec. 8. The company will raise the price of its existing basic plan, which will force subscribers to keep the ad-supported plan at the same price or pay more for the ad-free plan. This could help raise the average revenue per subscriber.
“We believe we will be on the path to achieve a profitable streaming business that will drive continued growth and generate shareholder value long into the future,” Chapek noted.
DIS Price Action: Disney shares are down 6.20% to $93.77 in after-hours trading Tuesday.
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Photo: Created with image from Walt Disney Television on flickr
