Disney reported its first earnings results with Bob Iger back as CEO today (Feb. 8), and along with better than expected numbers the company announced a major restructuring that will result in 7,000 employees losing jobs. Shares rose in after-hours trading.
Earnings per share and revenue beat expectations from Wall Street analysts. In the three months ended Dec. 31, shareholders earned 99 cents per share, up 21 cents from what analysts expected and reported to Refinitiv. In the same three months, Disney earned $23.5 billion in revenue, an 8 percent increase from the same period last year. The company said it will shave $5.5 billion in operating costs, and reorganize the business into three units, for entertainment, sports and theme parks.
The three month period began with Bob Chapek as chief executive, before the board replaced him with Iger, who served as Disney’s CEO for 15 years and built it into today’s media behemoth.
Disney+, Disney’s streaming business took a small hit, partially due to the company raising subscription prices across the board in December, which drove some customers away. While Hulu gained 800,000 subscribers and ESPN+ captured 600,000, those increases were offset by a loss of 2.4 million users at Disney+. Analysts expected a bigger loss at Disney+ of 3.1 million users.
