Disney Profit Rises Despite ESPN Woes
May 09 2017 - 5:14PM
Dow Jones News
By Ezequiel Minaya
Walt Disney Co. reported Tuesday that its beleaguered sports
network ESPN once again dragged quarterly results with revenue for
its fiscal second quarter coming in below analysts'
expectations.
The news could have been worse however, as operating income for
the segment that includes ESPN, media networks, retreated 3%,
better than the 4.2% decline that was predicted. Operating revenue
within the segment contracted for the fifth time in the last six
quarters.
Shares in the media and entertainment giant fell 1.5% in
after-hours trading to $110.34.
ESPN, Disney's cable property, has faced well-documented woes:
rising costs, declining viewership and the overall cord-cutting
trend.
The sports network is a crucial piece of Disney's holdings
because it is the most important part of the media networks
business, which comprises roughly half of the company's operating
income and is bigger than its studio and theme-park units.
About 762,000 subscribers dropped their cable- or satellite-TV
service in the first quarter, the industry's worst-ever subscriber
losses to start a year and five times higher than the year-earlier
period, according to MoffettNathanson.
Overall, Walt Disney reported a second-quarter profit of $2.39
billion, or $1.50 a share, up from $2.14 billion, or $1.30 a share,
a year earlier. Stripped of certain items, adjusted earnings were
$1.50, up from $1.36 a year ago.
Revenue increased 3% to $13.34 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of
$1.41 a share on revenue of $13.45 billion.
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 09, 2017 16:59 ET (20:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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