Yesterday, The Walt Disney Company reported its Q4 and year-end earnings for 2024 across all its avenues, showing steady growth in most sectors. From Disney Parks and Experiences to Entertainment and Sports, things are finally moving in the right direction for the media giant, showing year-on-year improvements across its major sources of income. Let’s move through some of the key points the Walt Dinsey Company had to share yesterday:
Key Points:
- We achieved strong 23% growth in total segment operating income([1]) for Q4 and 21% for the year, and 39% growth in adjusted EPS(1) to $1.14 from $0.82 for Q4 and 32% to $4.97 from $3.76 for the year.
- Entertainment segment operating income improved significantly, to $1.1 billion, up $0.8 billion in Q4 versus the prior-year quarter.
- Entertainment DTC delivered 14% ad revenue growth in Q4, contributing to $253 million in operating income, and our combined DTC streaming businesses improved their profitability in Q4, with operating income(1) of $321 million.
- We ended the quarter with 174 million Disney+ Core and Hulu subscriptions, and more than 120 million Disney+ Core paid subscribers, an increase of 4.4 million over the prior quarter.
- Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine broke numerous box office records and helped drive $316 million in operating income at Content Sales/Licensing and Other in Q4.
- Sports segment operating income was $0.9 billion, a decline of $0.1 billion compared to the prior-year quarter. Domestic ESPN advertising revenue in Q4 grew 7% versus the prior-year quarter.
- The Experiences segment had record revenue and operating income for the full year. In Q4, Experiences revenue increased $0.1 billion, or 1%, and operating income of $1.7 billion was a decline of $0.1 billion, or 6% compared to the prior-year quarter. Domestic Parks & Experiences operating income increased in Q4, on comparable attendance to the prior-year quarter, driven by higher guest spending, partially offset by higher expenses and costs related to new guest offerings driven by Disney Cruise Line. International Parks & Experiences operating income declined in Q4.
SUMMARIZED SEGMENT FINANCIAL RESULTS
Message From the CEO:
This was a pivotal and successful year for The Walt Disney Company, and thanks to the significant progress we’ve made, we have emerged from a period of considerable challenges and disruption well positioned for growth and optimistic about our future. Our solid performance in the fiscal fourth quarter reflected the success of our strategic efforts to improve quality, innovation, efficiency, and value creation. In Q4 we saw one of the best quarters in the history of our film studio, improved profitability in our streaming businesses, a record-breaking 60 Emmy Awards for the company, the continued power of live sports, and the unveiling of an impressive collection of new projects coming to our Experiences segment. As a result of our strategies and our focus on managing our businesses for both the near- and long-term, we are differentiating ourselves from traditional competitors, leveraging the deepest and broadest set of entertainment assets in the industry to drive attractive returns and further advance our goals.
Robert A. Iger, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company
Experiences
Because the Disney Parks are near and dear to all of our hearts, we’ve highlighted the appropriate section below showing the quarter-end figures for 2024 and 2023 comparatively. We are now seeing the decline of International Park income, as expected from the increase we saw earlier in the year as new lands and experiences opened. Domestic USA parks remain strong, with a 3% revenue increase over the quarter and a 5% Operating income increase compared to the same time last year.
Domestic Parks and Experiences
The increase in operating income at our domestic parks and experiences reflected:
- Guest spending growth attributable to increases in per capita guest spending at our theme parks and cruise line
- Lower sales of Disney Vacation Club units
- Higher costs primarily due to inflation, new guest offerings, increased technology spending and higher operations support costs, partially offset by the comparison to depreciation in the prior-year quarter related to the closure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
International Parks and Experiences
International parks and experiences’ operating results decreased compared to the prior-year quarter due to:
- Lower volumes attributable to declines in attendance
- An increase in costs primarily due to new guest offerings and higher depreciation
- A decrease in guest spending due to lower theme park per capita guest spending, partially offset by an increase in per room spending at our resorts
The parks performing well make for a promising start to the years ahead that are set to be filled with domestic construction and expansion. For a full list of the upcoming projects, see our coverage from the D23 event earlier this year.
