Disney reports first-quarter earnings

Leah Zanolla | Posted: Feb 8, 2012 | Updated: Oct 19, 2014 - 9:25:27 AM

The Walt Disney Co. has reported their first quarter earnings for the time period ending on December 31, 2011. Revenue for the quarter was only up 1% from the same time last year, at $10.8 billion, but in spite of the lagging economy, profit was up an unexpected 12%. Bob Iger, Disney President and CEO, said that the company is "off to a good start in this fiscal year."

According to rumors, Disney is currently working to expand their television offerings, working with Spanish-language channel Univision to create a 24-hour English news channel for the United States' Hispanic market. Iger did not comment on the relationship with Univision, stating that the company "has an interest in seeing that ABC News continues to flourish, and giving it an opportunity to look for and create some growth opportunities on its own." The move may help jumpstart ABC's bottom line, a move that is much needed, as revenue in the broadcast division fell this quarter by 7%.

The company is also working on strategies to improve the fiscal reports from the movie studio. That division saw a 16 percent decline in their revenue to $1.6 billion. CFO Jay Rasulo said they will attempt to raise profits by reducing the number of films produced. At the same time, operating income went up by 10 percent. The company had some hits, such as "The Muppets" film, but films such as "Tangled" and "Tron: Legacy" weren't as successful as they had hoped.

A major boost in the company's profits came from the theme parks division, which went up 10% to $3.2 billion. Morningstar analyst Michael Corty says that "Disney continues to exhibit pricing power, which shows the strength and competitive advantage of that business."

Disney Cruise Line's operating income has gone up, but their newest ship will be online in March, which should start generating revenue in the third quarter. It remains to be seen if the cruise line industry will suffer due to recent problems that other lines are having, such as the capsizing of Carnival's Italian ship and the cases of Norovirus illnesses found on three other ships.