Disney Stock Up After It Gains DTC Subscribers
Stymied by closures that delayed the theatrical debut of Mulan, Disney will fast-track the feature film on Disney+ as a “premier access” stream at $29.99 in most markets beginning Sept. 4, said CEO Bob Chapek on a quarterly call Tuesday.…
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“We see this as an opportunity to bring this incredible film to a broad audience currently unable to go to movie theaters.” Instead of “simply rolling it” into a free offering, “we thought we would give it a try to establish” a new premier access window to “recapture some of that investment,” he said. “We're going to have a chance to learn from this and to see whether that makes sense.” It’s “more important than ever” for Disney to fortify its “direct relationship” with consumers, so it’s launching a “general entertainment” streaming service globally under the Star brand in 2021, said Chapek. Disney’s “full portfolio” of direct-to-consumer services now exceeds 100 million paid subs, said Chapek. As the company battled theater closures and production shutdowns, plus the absence of live sports on ESPN, Q3 earnings per share were 8 cents compared with $1.34 in the year-earlier quarter, said Chapek. “We estimate the adverse impact of COVID-19-related disruption on our third-quarter segment operating income was approximately $3 billion net of cost mitigations,” said Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy. The stock closed up 8.8% Wednesday at $127.61.