The Walt Disney Company Reports $2 Billion Loss in the Parks, Experiences and Products Segment
The Walt Disney Company today reported earnings for its third fiscal quarter ended June 27, 2020. Results in the quarter and nine months ended June 27, 2020 were adversely impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The most significant impact was at the Parks, Experiences and Products segment as most of our theme parks and resorts were closed for the entire quarter and our cruise ship sailings were suspended.
“Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, we’ve continued to build on the incredible success
of Disney+ as we grow our global direct-to-consumer businesses,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive
Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “The global reach of our full portfolio of direct-to-consumer services now exceeds an astounding 100 million paid subscriptions -- a significant milestone and a reaffirmation of our DTC strategy, which we view as key to the future growth of our company.”
SEGMENT RESULTS
The impact of COVID-19 and measures to prevent its spread are affecting our segments in a number
of ways, most significantly at Parks, Experiences and Products where we closed our theme parks and retail stores, some of which have now re-opened, suspended cruise ship sailings and guided tours and have seen an adverse impact on our merchandise licensing business.
In addition, we have delayed, or in some cases, shortened or cancelled theatrical releases and suspended stage play performances at Studio Entertainment and have experienced an adverse impact on advertising sales at Media Networks and Direct-to-Consumer & International. We have experienced disruptions in the production and availability of content, including the deferral or cancellation of certain sports events and suspension of production of most film and television content. Many of these businesses have been closed consistent with government mandates or guidance.
The most significant impact in the current quarter from COVID-19 was an approximately $3.5 billion adverse impact on operating income at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment due to revenue lost as a result of the closures. The negative impact at Parks, Experiences and Products was partially offset by a positive impact at Media Networks. The benefit at Media Networks was due to the deferral of sports programming rights to future quarters when we currently anticipate the events will air, partially offset by lower advertising revenue.
The impacts at Direct-to-Consumer & International and Studio Entertainment were less significant as lower advertising revenue at Direct-to-Consumer & International was partially offset by the deferral of sports programming costs, while lower amortization, marketing and distribution costs at Studio Entertainment were largely offset by lower revenues as a result of theater closures.
In total, we estimate the net adverse impact of COVID-19 on our current quarter segment operating income across all of our businesses was approximately $2.9 billion, inclusive of the impact at Parks, Experiences and Products.
PARKS, EXPERIENCES AND PRODUCTS
Parks, Experiences and Products revenues for the quarter decreased 85% to $1.0 billion, and segment
operating results decreased $3.7 billion to a loss of $2.0 billion. Lower operating results for the quarter were due to decreases at both the domestic and international parks and experiences businesses and to a lesser extent, at our merchandise licensing and retail businesses.
As a result of COVID-19, our domestic parks and resorts, cruise line business and Disneyland Paris were closed for all of the current quarter. Our Asia parks and resorts were closed for a portion of the current quarter, as Shanghai Disney Resort re-opened in May and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort reopened in late June (Hong Kong Disneyland Resort closed again in July).
The decrease at licensing and retail also reflected the impact of COVID-19, which resulted in decreases in licensing earned revenue and lower minimum guarantee shortfall recognition, the closure of our Disney Stores for most of the quarter and the write-down of store assets. We estimate the total net adverse impact of COVID-19 on segment operating income in the quarter was approximately $3.5 billion.
You can read the full press release by clicking on this link.
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