By Mae Anderson, Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The House of Mouse is struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. Disney reported a steep decline in profit as many segments of its media and entertainment offerings ground to a standstill.
Its second quarter profit dropped 91% to $475 million, down from $5.4 billion a year earlier. Overall, the company said costs related to COVID-19 cut Disney's pretax profit by $1.4 billion.
One bright spot was its Disney Plus streaming service, which debuted in November in the U.S. and rolled out to the UK and other parts of Europe in April. As of May 4, the company said Disney Plus had 54.5 million subscribers. Netflix, by contrast, has 183 million subscribers worldwide, a base it has spent years building.
Disney Plus contributed to an almost $3 billion revenue increase for Disney's direct-to-consumer and international business. Hulu and ESPN Plus, two other streaming servces owned by Disney, had 32.1 million and 7.9 million paid subscribers, respectively.
Overall Disney revenue rose 21 percent to $18.01 billion, just short of the $18.06 billion analysts expected. The company's shares fell roughly 2% in after-market trading.
In a conference call with analysts, CEO Bob Chapek said the company plans to reopen its Disney Shanghai park on May 11. The phased opening will include limits on attendance, an advance reservation system, social distancing procedures such as wearing masks, and temperature screening and contract tracing efforts that are mandated by the government.
The Walt Disney Co. shuttered its parks in mid-March as the new coronavirus spread. Its theme parks furloughed a reported 100,000 workers without pay in the U.S., including 43,000 workers at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Those workers can keep their benefits for up to a year. Disney Cruise Lines have also been suspended.
The company's film studios, known for churning out blockbusters, have also suspended production. Disney pushed back most of its 2020 big budget movies, including the live-action "Mulan," "The New Mutants," the horror-thriller "Antlers," and Marvel's "Black Widow," to late this year or beyond.
Disney-owned ESPN and its streaming arm ESPN Plus are also suffering from the dearth of live sports during the pandemic.
Chapek said Disney has "substantially reduced" senior executive compensation and will keep the cuts in place until there is a "substantive recovery." He offered no further details. Disney is also suspending its semi-annual dividend, scheduled for July, which will save it about $1.6 billion.
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More