(New York) Disney posted better-than-expected first-quarter revenue but suffered from an unexpected drop in subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service, prompting a negative reaction from Wall Street.
The Burbank (California) group generated $21.8 billion in revenue, up 13% year-on-year, according to a statement released Wednesday.
In the first three months of the year, Disney lost four million Disney+ subscribers net, down to 157.8 million at the end of the period, while analysts saw this indicator progress, beyond 163 million. .
In electronic trading after the close of Wall Street, the group’s share lost 3.19%.
The contraction of the Disney + subscriber portfolio is mainly due to an 8% drop in India, where the version of the service, called Hotstar, weighs almost a third of the world total. But the entertainment giant also saw a slight decline (-1%) in North America.
At the same time, Disney nevertheless saw the average revenue per subscription increase by 13%, mainly due to price increases.
The activity of streaming remains loss-making, but continued to reduce its losses over the quarter.
As in the previous quarter, the group’s results were driven by the theme parks, whose turnover jumped 17% over one year, thanks to better attendance, but also to price increases.
The increase in the parks alone even reached 23%, but the branch’s revenues were affected by the poor performance of sales of derivative products, whose turnover fell by 23%.
Overall, Disney managed to contain the increase in costs (+10.7%) at a slower pace than its revenues (+13%).
This favorable difference is explained in particular by the cost-saving measures decided by the general manager Bob Iger, emblematic boss of the firm who returned to control last November. The company has notably decided to cut 7,000 jobs.
Net profit was nearly tripled to $1.488 billion. Brought back by share and excluding exceptional items, data closely followed by the markets, the profit reached 93 cents, in line with analysts’ expectations.