- Walt Disney reported earnings roughly in line with market expectations. However, Disney+ subscribers declined for the second straight quarter to 157.8 million from 161.8 million, a reduction of 2%. The majority of the loss came from India’s Disney+ Hotstar. Despite this, the company was able to increase revenue through higher subscription pricing and a decrease in marketing costs. This has enabled streaming losses to be reduced.
- However, the company expects to produce less content in the future and is taking an impairment charge of between $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion in the third quarter of the current financial year. As a result, there has been significant weakness in the share price.
- Disney is still paying its school fees, being a late participant in a competitive streaming market. The traditional cable market has been in decline over the past few years, and Disney is changing its strategy with a major increase in the amount of advertising on its various services. Subscribers who do not want to pay for ad-free Disney+ will have to pay higher subscription fees
- Apple generated strong operating cash flow of $28.6 billion and returned over $23 billion to shareholders during the quarter. Apple’s board of directors also authorized an additional $90 billion for share repurchases.
- The quarterly dividend was raised for the eleventh year in a row by 4% to $0.24 per share. The dividend will be paid on May 18, 2023, to shareholders of record as of May 15, 2023.
- Data from the Motley Fool suggests investing legend Warren Buffet owns a stake in Apple which represents around 45% of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock portfolio, and about 5.6% of all outstanding Apple shares. We are holders of Berkshire Hathaway shares in global managed portfolios and the Cratos BCI Worldwide Equity Fund.
By Ron Klipin