The times are still very unmagical in the Magic Kingdom, as the company continues to face bad financial news, namely bad earnings and its stock price plummeting, thanks to its unliked, woke content going unwatched and visitors staying away from its overly expensive theme parks.
Among the worst of Disney’s poorly performing segments in terms of results has been Disney+, which took a massive hit over the last quarter. Analysts of the company had expected it to win around 154.8 million total subscribers.
That didn’t happen. Instead, Disney+ only managed to garner about 146.1 million total subscribers. Not only is that far below analyst expectations, but it is a 7.4% decline from the previous quarter, which is bad news for the Woke Kingdom. Disney+ also just raised prices from about $11 a month to about $14 a month for the ad-free version, which could mean further subscriber drops as people hammered by inflation cut expenses.
Outkick, tweeting about the bad situation Disney faces, said, “Disney missed revenue projections and saw Disney+ subscriptions drop substantially in yet another blow for the reeling entertainment company. And with ‘Haunted Mansion’ a disastrous flop and declining park demand, it’s not getting better anytime soon”
Commenters on the post didn’t pull punches when talking about Disney’s failures. One commenter, for example, noted the bleak and unpromising future Disney faces and what it will potentially have to do to deal with those circumstances, saying, “Disney rapidly approaching point where it: 1) sells off non-core media assets 2) spins off parks, w/ perpetual license to all Disney/Lucasfilm/Pixar IP for park use (attractions & merch) 3) spins IP into entity that licenses it for movies/shows, then sell the entity.”
Another commenter noted that Disney’s customer service has gone downhill, even for its highly expensive theme parks, saying, “Politics aside, Disney customer service in decline last few years. Once a hallmark, it’s as if owning all this IP they have taken the need for customer service for granted. Last visit to a park w/ family, when we would ask a question the response was always ‘that’s on the app.‘”
Still another argued that its woke content is why people are losing interest in its content and the ecosystem surrounding the content, such as parks, saying, “Geez, I wonder why??? Maybe people are tired of being told that Snow White can have a beard?”
Disney stock has recovered somewhat from its low, which it hit in July, but is still down significantly from its March of 2021 high of nearly $200. It’s now around $91. That high was about a year before Disney entered the culture war sphere more prominently, taking a public stand against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education Bill.
When Disney took that stand in March of 2022, its stock price was still in the ~$140 range. So, since then, it’s lost about 35% of its stock value, with its business segments floundering as conservative consumers boycott it, apolitical consumers cut the chord on woke or overly expensive content, and political distractions and preferences make the content worse and worse.
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