Disney earnings profit hits all-time record in last quarter

The company as a whole reported record quarterly earnings of $2.9 billion, compared to $2.2 billion for the prior-year quarter. The Force Awakens was released on December 18th, meaning the bulk of its $2 billion in global ticket sales occurred after the quarter ended. Star Wars: The Force Awakens helped Disney to soar past Wall Street’s financial expectations for the last three months of 2015. Counting one-time items, including $27 million worth of severance and termination costs at ESPN, earnings for the most recent quarter were $1.73 per share.

The strong numbers, however, didn’t assuage investors’ concerns about a slowdown in the company’s television business. That was down 5 percent from a year ago. It attributes that to “higher programming costs” – with the inclusion of the College Football Playoff bowl games and rising outlays to the NFL – “partially offset by an increase in advertising and affiliate revenues”.

While Disney’s stock closed slightly 0.2% to $92.32, after market trading was down over 4%.

Facing yet another question about the ESPN subscriber situation, Iger said that predictions about declining subscriptions had “abated” adding: “We believe the predictions many have made are more dire than they should be”.

Delving into a level of detail rarely seen at a company worth more than $150 billion, Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said on a conference call with analysts Tuesday that ESPN has experienced an uptick in subscriber numbers in the past…

The space-opera sequel crossed the $2b (NZ$3.01b) mark at the box office last week, becoming just the third film to reach that lofty plateau.

Disney’s consumer products and interactive division reported operating income of $860 million (NZ$1296m) – an increase of 23 percent.

The Parks and Resorts segment’s revenue climbed 9% year over year to $4.28 billion. Disney Consumer Products (DCP) delivers product experiences across thousands of categories from toys and apparel to books and fine art. Disney Interactive is a creator of interactive entertainment across all current and emerging digital media platforms.

The company attributed the division’s success in part to merchandising revenue related to “The Force Awakens“.

A new themed land, “Pandora – The World of Avatar“, is expected to open next year at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, and Disney has set a June opening for its $5.5-billion resort in Shanghai, the first Disney park on mainland China.