☀️DIS+ AI Infusion Coming, As Movies 😩, Streaming 👏 in Q3
DIS+ AI user-gen content ahead, ‘Lilo’ scores in products, Theme Parks show resilience and more
So, who wants some money!? 🤑
While Bob Iger didn’t open the Q3 earnings call like that . . . it wouldn’t have hurt given the Q3 numbers today. Such promises would also have likely gotten Rushfield to tune into future earnings calls, finally.
Today, DISNEY’s definitely buying us a nice lunch as it clearly has some cash lying around — pulling 2 levers it knows Wall Street generally likes to hear, in conjunction with releasing its Q3 numbers (DISNEY’s FY25 Q4):
DIVIDEND INCREASE (free money DISNEY gives you for each share of stock you own): It’s getting a 50% boost to $1.50 in FY26.
STOCK BUYBACKS: It’s authorizing itself to buyback up to $7B in DISNEY shares in FY26, which would be 2x the amount it did in FY25.
In theory, having fewer shares out there in the market to buy makes the still existing float more valuable.
However, Wall Street wasn’t biting given the flat total Q3 DISNEY revenue YoY and other numbers that I’ll dive into shortly, putting DIS stock -8% so far today.
Iger also curiously chose to lead his comments on the earnings call with the movie business, whose financials turned from a profit to a loss in Q3. You’ll be surprised to hear that Tron: Ares wasn’t mentioned (ok yes, that was a Q4 movie, technically).
BUT: Certainly a nice vote of confidence to kick things off with the oldest business in the business, and mainly there to remind forward-looking Wall Street about what’s ahead (Zootopia 2, Avatar, Prada 2, Mandalorian, Toy Story 5, Moana, Avengers).
ALSO: If you want a snapshot at what a theatrical movie can do to juice other business lines — Lilo & Stitch made $1B at the box office this year . . . but $4B in consumer products revenue. Although in the end, it’s all about the artistic integrity and staying true to the storytelling canon, of course.
As usual, I’ll start with the topline items, including:
Content spend plans
#cordcutting losses
The curious AI comments about what they’re working on
Some notable things in the HULU numbers and much more
Then I’ll dive into what’s going on with the numbers in each division, including:
The #notgreatBob movie biz numbers, and how this business is becoming more important on a quarterly basis given overall DISNEY trends.
How DISNEY’s linear TV exposure now stacks up with others around town, and the company’s still impressive streaming growth — esp. over a longer time horizon.
How much money the theme parks are making this time (sorry, media — not seeing much consumer spending pullback here #DISNEYsoexpensive), and more.
So, let’s get moving.