The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today reported earnings for its first fiscal quarter, which ended December 28, 2024. Overall, revenues increased 5% for Q1 to $24.7 billion from $23.5 billion in Q1 fiscal 2024, with major chunks coming from increased revenues in Entertainment ($10.87B, +9%) and Experiences ($9.4B, +3%)
Entertainment segment operating income increased $0.8 billion to $1.7 billion. The companies studios, which include Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios as well as Marvel and Lucasfilm, came up with $312 million in profit, a pendulum swing from last year’s $244M Q1 loss.
Direct-to-Consumer (e.g. streaming) was also up, with operating income increased to $293 million (+$431M) despite a slight ad revenue decline (-2%). Subscriptions for Disney+ and Hulu overall increased 0.9 million over Q4 2024 to 178 million total (125M for Disney+, down 0.7M from Q4). Content Sales/Licensing and Other operating income increased $536 million to $312 million, driven by the performance of Moana 2.
Experiences reported operating income of $3.1 billion, comparable to Q1 fiscal 2024, reflecting a 6 percentage-point adverse impact to year-over-year growth due to Hurricanes Milton and Helene (~$120 million impact) and pre-opening expenses (~$75 million impact in Q1 fiscal 2025) driven by the launch of the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, Disney Treasure.
Domestic Parks & Experiences operating income declined 5%, reflecting a 9 percentage-point adverse impact to year-over-year growth due to the hurricanes and cruise pre-opening expenses. International Parks & Experiences operating income increased 28% vs. Q1 fiscal 2024.
“Our results this quarter demonstrate Disney’s creative and financial strength as we advanced the strategic initiatives set in motion over the past two years,” said CEO Bob Iger in a statement. “In fiscal Q1 we saw outstanding box office performance from our studios, which had the top three movies of 2024; we further improved the profitability of our Entertainment DTC streaming businesses; we took an important step to advance ESPN’s digital strategy by adding an ESPN tile on Disney+; and our Experiences segment demonstrated its enduring appeal as we continue investing strategically across the globe. Overall, this quarter proved to be a strong start to the fiscal year, and we remain confident in our strategy for continued growth.”
[Source: The Walt Disney Company]
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