AP – The Walt Disney Co on Tuesday posted lower-than-expected profit and revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter even as its streaming services did well, sending its shares lower in after-hours trading.
The company said it earned USD162 million, or nine cents per share, in the July-September quarter, nearly flat compared to USD160 million, or nine cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, Disney earned 30 cents per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 56 cents per share on that basis, according to FactSet.
Revenue grew nine per cent to USD20.15 billion from USD18.53 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of USD21.27 billion.
Disney said it ended its fiscal year with more than 235 million subscribers to its streaming services. That’s above analysts’ expectations of 231.5 million.
The company plans to increase prices at Disney+ next month and also introduce a lower-priced version that includes advertisements. Currently, Disney+ is ad-free.
Disney+ added 12.1 million subscribers to bring the total 164.2 million as of October 1. In comparison, Netflix – which is also adding an ad-supported tier to its streaming service – has about 223 million subscribers.
CEO Bob Chapek said the company still expects Disney+ to be profitable in 2024 “assuming we do not see a meaningful shift in the economic climate”.
Shares in Disney, which is based in Burbank, California, fell almost eight per cent in after-hours trading.
