Disney's Income Falls as Coronavirus Takes Hold
May 05 2020 - 5:05PM
Dow Jones News
By Erich Schwartzel
Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday laid bare for investors just how
badly the company has been ravaged by the novel coronavirus that
has shut down its film and TV productions and closed its theme
parks around the world.
The world's largest entertainment company said it lost $1.4
billion due to the pandemic in the three months ended March 28.
Overall operating income for the company fell 37% to $2.4
billion. Revenue for the quarter rose 21% to $18 billion.
The ramifications of the pandemic will likely be even more
pronounced in the current quarter, since only the final few weeks
of the company's second fiscal quarter were hit by widespread
shutdowns beyond those that started earlier in Asia. Analysts have
downgraded Disney stock, eyeing a future defined by the highly
contagious virus, even as stay-at-home orders are lifted and
businesses reopen.
In the quarter reported Tuesday, the pandemic's primary impact
was on the theme-parks division, since international operations
like Shanghai Disney Resort closed before the mid-March closures of
Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the U.S.
Operating income at the division that includes Disney parks fell
58% in the quarter to $639 million. Revenue fell 10% to $5.5
billion.
Disney said it estimates the coronavirus eliminated about $1
billion in operating income for the division in the quarter.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2020 16:50 ET (20:50 GMT)
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