Disney+ Climbs to More Than 150 Million Subscribers as Streaming Losses Narrow to $387 Million
Disney reported its fiscal fourth-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing Disney+ now totals 150.2 million streaming subscriptions, up from 146.7 million in the previous quarter : Core Disney+ at 112.6 million subs and Disney+ Hotstar at 37.6 million.
Meanwhile, there are 48.5 million subscribers to Hulu and ESPN+ has 26 million.
Disney’s streaming business lost $387 million in Disney’s Q4.
Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of 68 cents on $20.1 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by Refinitiv. Disney reported diluted EPS of 82 cents on $21.2 billion in revenue.
“Our results this quarter reflect the significant progress we’ve made over the past year,” CEO Bob Iger said in a letter to shareholders. “While we still have work to do, these efforts have allowed us to move beyond this period of fixing and begin building our businesses again. We have a solid foundation of creative excellence and innovation built over the past century, which has only been reinforced by the important restructuring and cost efficiency work we’ve done this year, and we’re on track to achieve roughly $7.5 billion in cost reductions. Combined with our portfolio of valuable businesses, brands and assets – and the way we manage them together – Disney has a strong hand that differentiates us from others in our industry. As we look forward, there are four key building opportunities that will be central to our success: achieving significant and sustained profitability in our streaming business, building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform, improving the output and economics of our film studios, and turbocharging growth in our parks and experiences business. We have already made considerable advancements in these four areas and will continue to move forward with a sense of purpose and urgency, and I’m bullish about the opportunities we have before us to create lasting growth and increase shareholder value.”
Disney stock closed Wednesday at $84.49 per share. The regular U.S. stock markets will reopen Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Iger and other Disney executives will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the quarter in greater detail.
More to come…
