Major Announcements Give an Inside Look at CHANGES Happening at Disney

Disney has revealed some HUGE updates — but don’t worry about digging around to find them all. We’ve got them right here just for YOU.

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On May 10th, Disney held its earnings call (and shared its earnings report) for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 (Q2 FY 2023). We had some expectations for what news this day would bring and now we’ve got all the updates. Thanks to this report and call, we’ve got updates on just how much money Disney+ is making at the moment, how its subscriber numbers have changed, how much dough the theme parks are raking in, and more. So let’s go through everything you need to know now.

Overall Financial Results

In terms of overall financial results, here’s what Disney has reported for Q2 of FY 2023:

Revenues for the quarter and six months grew 13% and 10%, respectively
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations for the quarter increased to $0.69 from $0.26 in the prior-year quarter
Excluding certain items, diluted EPS for the quarter decreased to $0.93 from $1.08 in the prior year quarter

Iger called Disney’s first quarter of 2023 a “solid” quarter. It marked the start of some significant changes for the company. When it comes to the second quarter, CEO Bob Iger shared, “We’re pleased with our accomplishments this quarter, including the improved financial performance of our streaming business, which reflect the strategic changes we’ve been making throughout the company to realign Disney for sustained growth and success.”

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Below, you can see a chart of some key financial results from the second quarter of fiscal year 2023. Compared to the prior year quarter, revenues are up and income from continuing operations increased this quarter. Additionally, total segment operating income was down in comparison to prior year quarter.

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Let’s take a look at some specifics.

Disney+ Subscribers

In terms of Disney+ subscribers, during Q1 of FY 2023, Disney+ actually LOST some subscribers. it went from 164.2 million in October of 2022 to 161.8 million in Q1 of FY 2023. So how has Disney+ fared since then? Well, according to the Q2 FY 2023 update, Disney+ saw an overall LOSS in subscribers.

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The total amount of subscribers is now 157.8 million, down from 161.8 million subscribers as of February 2023.

Click here to learn more about the Disney+ subscriber losses

Disney+ GAINS

In terms of Disney+ in general, things have been tricky too. In November 2022, there were some big losses reported in the direct-to-consumer division (nearly $1.5 BILLION). It’s one of the reasons why Chapek was ousted from the CEO position, and Iger has been focused on making streaming his priority at the company. In Q1 of FY 2023, streaming reported a $1.053 billion operating loss. So are things any better now?

For Q2 of FY 2023, direct-to-consumer reported an overall increase in revenue. Direct-to-Consumer revenues for the quarter increased 12% to $5.5 billion and operating loss decreased $0.2 billion to $0.7 billion. Disney explained that the decrease in operating loss was due to improved results at Disney+ and ESPN+, partially offset by lower operating income at Hulu.

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In terms of average monthly revenue per paid subscriber, those numbers increased from $5.95 to $7.14 due to an increase in average retail pricing. Disney+ Hotstar’s average monthly revenue per paid subscriber decreased from $0.74 to $0.59 due to lower per-subscriber advertising revenue. This is where revenue decreased for Disney+.

Theme Parks Updates

Regarding the Parks, Experiences, and Products division, Disney has been doing much better. In November of 2022, the division had a total revenue of $7.4 billion and in Q1 of FY 2023, it reported $8.7 billion in revenues. Have the parks continued on their strong streak?

In Q2 of FY 2023, the Parks, Experiences, and Products division as a whole reported a 17% increase in revenue to $7.8 billion. The Disney Parks, Experiences and Products also shared segment operating income increased 23% to $2.2 billion.

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Disney attributed its domestic operating income growth in part to an increase at Disney Cruise Line’s increase in passenger cruise days, including the addition of the Disney Wish to the fleet.

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