Amusement parks and closed cinemas, delayed film releases, canceled sports competitions: the American entertainment giant Disney estimates the negative impact of the coronavirus on its activities at 1.4 billion dollars (1.29 billion euros).
Disney’s second-quarter operating income fell 37% as the coronavirus sent its theme-park results tumbling https://t.co/id2wAknEZR
– The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 5, 2020
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“We are facing general disruptions,” said Bob Chapek, the group’s boss, on Tuesday, in particular with reference to the closure of amusement parks and the interruption of cruises. Disney made $ 18 billion (16.6 billion euros) in sales from January to March 2020, up 21%.
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Adjusted earnings per share, the preferred indicator for analysts, however, stood at $ 0.6, down 63% from a year ago. The “parks, experiences and products” activity collected 5.5 billion dollars (5 billion euros) in revenue in the second quarter of the delayed financial year, 10% less than a year ago. Operating profit in this segment plunged 58% to 639 million (589.4 million).
Disney +, the only containment winner
The Enchanted Kingdom hopes to reopen its parks as soon as possible, but, in mid-April, it still decided to put in place measures of technical unemployment. Disney also suffers from the cancellation of sporting events, which generate audiences and advertising revenue on its cable channels.
The American group can nevertheless rejoice in the success of Disney +, its streaming platform launched in the fall in North America and Australia, in particular, then deployed in several European countries in March. In this case, the pandemic and the great containment worked in favor of Disney.
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Its immense catalog of very popular titles and its original productions have enabled it to conquer many subscribers – it has 54.5 million at this stage. The “direct to the consumer” activities now represent more than 4 billion dollars (3.69 billion euros) in turnover, against 1 billion (0.9 billion) a year ago. But the activity remains deficit for the moment, with an operational loss of 812 million dollars (749 million euros), because of the significant investments made for the large-scale launch.
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