UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||||||||
For the fiscal year ended September 28, 2024
or
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||||||||
For the transition period from __________ to __________.
Commission File Number 001-38842
| State or Other Jurisdiction of | I.R.S. Employer Identification | |||||||
| Incorporation or Organization | ||||||||
Address of Principal Executive Offices and Zip Code
(818 ) 560-1000
Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||||||||||||
Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes x No o
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company”, and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| x | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||||||||||||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No x
The aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates (based on the closing price on the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter as reported on the New York Stock Exchange-Composite Transactions) was $223.4 billion. All executive officers and directors of the registrant and all persons filing a Schedule 13D with the Securities and Exchange Commission in respect to registrant’s common stock have been deemed, solely for the purpose of the foregoing calculation, to be “affiliates” of the registrant.
There were 1,810,939,306 shares of common stock outstanding as of November 6, 2024.
Documents Incorporated by Reference
Certain information required for Part III of this report is incorporated herein by reference to the proxy statement for the 2025 annual meeting of the Company’s shareholders.
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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| PART I | ||||||||
| ITEM 1. | ||||||||
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| ITEM 1B. | ||||||||
ITEM 1C. | ||||||||
| ITEM 2. | ||||||||
| ITEM 3. | ||||||||
| ITEM 4. | ||||||||
| PART II | ||||||||
| ITEM 5. | ||||||||
| ITEM 7. | ||||||||
| ITEM 7A. | ||||||||
| ITEM 8. | ||||||||
| ITEM 9. | ||||||||
| ITEM 9A. | ||||||||
| ITEM 9B. | ||||||||
| ITEM 9C | ||||||||
| PART III | ||||||||
| ITEM 10. | ||||||||
| ITEM 11. | ||||||||
| ITEM 12. | ||||||||
| ITEM 13. | ||||||||
| ITEM 14. | ||||||||
| PART IV | ||||||||
| ITEM 15. | ||||||||
| ITEM 16. | ||||||||
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance and may include statements concerning, among other things, financial results; business plans (including statements regarding new services and products and future expenditures, costs and investments); future liabilities and other obligations; impairments and amortization; estimates of the financial impact of certain items, accounting treatment, events or circumstances; competition and seasonality on our businesses and results of operations; and capital allocation, including share repurchases and dividends. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “potential,” “continue,” “assumption” or “judgment” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions as of the date of this report. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from expectations or results projected or implied by forward-looking statements.
Such differences may result from actions taken by the Company, including restructuring or strategic initiatives (including capital investments, asset acquisitions or dispositions, new or expanded business lines or cessation of certain operations), our execution of our business plans (including the content we create and intellectual properties (IP) we invest in, our pricing decisions, our cost structure and our management and other personnel decisions), our ability to quickly execute on cost rationalization while preserving revenue, the discovery of additional information or other business decisions, as well as from developments beyond the Company’s control, including:
•the occurrence of subsequent events;
•deterioration in domestic and global economic conditions or failure of conditions to improve as anticipated;
•deterioration in or pressures from competitive conditions, including competition to create or acquire content, competition for talent and competition for advertising revenue;
•consumer preferences and acceptance of our content, offerings, pricing model and price increases, and corresponding subscriber additions and churn, and the market for advertising sales on our direct-to-consumer services and linear networks;
•health concerns and their impact on our businesses and productions;
•international, political or military developments;
•regulatory and legal developments;
•technological developments;
•labor markets and activities, including work stoppages;
•adverse weather conditions or natural disasters; and
•availability of content.
Such developments may further affect entertainment, travel and leisure businesses generally and may, among other things, affect (or further affect, as applicable):
•our operations, business plans or profitability, including direct-to-consumer profitability;
•demand for our products and services;
•the performance of the Company’s content;
•our ability to create or obtain desirable content at or under the value we assign the content;
•the advertising market for programming;
•taxation; and
•performance of some or all Company businesses either directly or through their impact on those who distribute our products.
Additional factors include those described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including under the captions “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Business,” in our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, including under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and in our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A forward-looking statement is neither a prediction nor a guarantee of future events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Unless required by federal securities laws, we assume no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated, to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the statements are made.
1
PART I
ITEM 1. Business
The Walt Disney Company, together with the subsidiaries through which businesses are conducted (the Company), is a diversified worldwide entertainment company with operations in three segments: Entertainment, Sports and Experiences.
The terms “Company”, “we”, “our” and “us” are used in this report to refer collectively to the parent company and the subsidiaries through which businesses are conducted.
ENTERTAINMENT
The Entertainment segment generally encompasses the Company’s non-sports focused global film and episodic content production and distribution activities.
The lines of business within Entertainment along with their significant business activities include the following:
•Linear Networks
◦Domestic: ABC Television Network (ABC Network); Disney, Freeform, FX and National Geographic (owned 73% by the Company) branded television channels; and eight owned ABC television stations
◦International: Disney, FX, National Geographic (owned 73% by the Company) and Star branded general entertainment television channels outside of the U.S.
◦A 50% equity investment in A+E Television Networks (A+E), which operates cable channels including A&E, HISTORY and Lifetime
•Direct-to-Consumer
◦Disney+: a global direct-to-consumer (DTC) service that primarily offers general entertainment and family programming
◦Disney+ Hotstar: a DTC service primarily in India that offers general entertainment, family and sports programming.
◦Hulu: a U.S. DTC service that offers general entertainment and family programming and a digital over-the-top (OTT) service that includes live linear streams of various cable and broadcast networks. See Note 2 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for information on Hulu ownership.
•Content Sales/Licensing
◦Theatrical distribution
◦Sale/licensing of film and episodic content to television and video-on-demand (TV/VOD) services
◦Home entertainment distribution: electronic home video licenses, video-on-demand rentals and sales of DVD/Blu-ray discs
◦Intersegment allocation of revenues from the Experiences segment, which is meant to reflect royalties on consumer products merchandise licensing revenues generated on intellectual property (IP) created by the Entertainment segment
◦Staging and licensing of live entertainment events on Broadway and around the world (Stage Plays)
◦Music distribution
◦Post-production services by Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound
Entertainment also includes the following activities that are reported with Content Sales/Licensing:
•National Geographic magazine and online business (owned 73% by the Company)
•A 30% ownership interest in Tata Play Limited, which operates a direct-to-home satellite distribution platform in India
The significant revenues of Entertainment are as follows:
•Subscription fees - Fees charged to customers/subscribers for our DTC streaming services
•Advertising - Sales of advertising time/space
•Affiliate fees - Fees charged to multi-channel video programming distributors (i.e. cable, satellite, telecommunications and digital OTT service providers) (MVPDs) for the right to deliver our programming to their customers. Linear Networks also generates revenues from fees charged to television stations affiliated with ABC Network.
•Theatrical distribution - Rentals from licensing our films to theaters
•TV/VOD distribution - Licensing fees for the right to use our film and episodic content
2
•Home entertainment distribution - Electronic sales and rentals of film and episodic content through distributors and royalties from the licensing of physical distribution rights
•Other revenue - Revenues from licensing our music, ticket sales from stage play performances, fees from licensing our IP for use in stage plays, sales of post-production services and the allocation of consumer products merchandise licensing revenues
The significant expenses of Entertainment are as follows:
•Operating expenses, consisting primarily of programming and production costs, technology support costs, operating labor and distribution costs. Programming and production costs include the following:
◦Amortization of capitalized production costs
◦Amortization of the costs of licensed programming rights
◦Subscriber-based fees for programming our Hulu Live service, including fees paid by Hulu to the Sports segment and other Entertainment segment businesses for the right to air their linear networks on Hulu Live
◦Production costs related to live programming (primarily news)
◦Participations and residual expenses
◦Fees paid to the Sports segment to program ESPN on ABC and certain sports content on Disney+
•Selling, general and administrative costs, including marketing costs
•Depreciation and amortization
Linear Networks
The majority of Linear Networks revenue is derived from affiliate fees and advertising. The Company’s Linear Networks businesses provide programming under multi-year licensing agreements with MVPDs and/or affiliated television stations that are generally based on contractually specified rates on a per subscriber basis. The amounts that we can charge for our networks are largely dependent on the quality and quantity of programming that we can provide and the competitive market for programming services. The ability to sell advertising time and the rates received are primarily dependent on the size and nature of the audience that the network can deliver to the advertiser as well as overall advertiser demand.
Domestic Linear Networks
ABC Network
ABC Network programming is aired in the primetime, daytime, late night, news and sports “dayparts”. Primetime programming includes scripted series, reality programming and a variety of movies and specials. ESPN programs the sports daypart on ABC Network, which is branded ESPN on ABC. ABC Network distributes programming to approximately 245 local affiliated television stations and to our eight owned television stations, which collectively reach almost 100% of U.S. television households.
ABC Network produces a variety of unscripted series, primetime specials, news and daytime programming.
Disney Channels
Branded television channels include: Disney Channel; Disney Junior; and Disney XD (collectively Disney Channels). Disney Channels air programming 24 hours a day targeted to kids ages 2 to 14 and generally feature live-action comedy series, animated programming and preschool series as well as original movies and theatrical films.
Freeform
Freeform is a channel targeted to viewers ages 18 to 34 that airs original and licensed television series, films and holiday programming events.
FX Channels
Branded television channels include: FX; FXM; and FXX (collectively FX Channels), which air a mix of original and licensed television series and films.
National Geographic Channels
Branded television channels include: National Geographic; Nat Geo Wild; and Nat Geo Mundo (collectively National Geographic Channels). National Geographic Channels air programming in genres such as travel, adventure, wildlife, documentary, science and history.
3
The number of subscribers (in millions) for the significant domestic branded channels are as follows:
Subscribers(1) | |||||
| Disney Channel | 66 | ||||
Freeform | 55 | ||||
| FX | 67 | ||||
| National Geographic | 66 | ||||
(1)Based on Nielsen Media Research estimates as of September 2024. Estimates include traditional MVPD and the majority of digital OTT subscriber counts.
Domestic Television Stations
The Company owns eight television stations, six of which are located in the top ten television household markets in the U.S. Our television stations collectively reach approximately 20% of U.S. television households.
The stations we own are as follows:
| TV Station | Market | Television Market Ranking(1) | ||||||||||||
| WABC | New York, NY | 1 | ||||||||||||
| KABC | Los Angeles, CA | 2 | ||||||||||||
| WLS | Chicago, IL | 3 | ||||||||||||
| WPVI | Philadelphia, PA | 4 | ||||||||||||
| KTRK | Houston, TX | 6 | ||||||||||||
| KGO | San Francisco, CA | 10 | ||||||||||||
| WTVD | Raleigh-Durham, NC | 22 | ||||||||||||
| KFSN | Fresno, CA | 52 | ||||||||||||
(1)Based on Nielsen Media Research, U.S. Television Household Estimates, January 1, 2024
International Linear Networks
International Linear Networks use content from the Company’s various studios, including library titles, as well as content acquired from third parties. The Company operates approximately 265 general entertainment and family channels outside the U.S. in approximately 40 languages and 175 countries/territories.
General Entertainment
General Entertainment channels include FX, National Geographic and Star branded channels, which air a variety of scripted, reality and documentary programming. As of September 2024, the estimated number of unique subscribers for our general entertainment channels, based on internal management reports, was approximately 240 million.
Family
Family channels include Disney Channel and Disney Junior, which air a variety of animated and live action original series and movies targeted to kids ages 2 to 14. As of September 2024, the estimated number of unique subscribers for our family channels, based on internal management reports, was approximately 200 million.
Equity Investments
The most significant equity investment at Linear Networks is A+E. The Company’s share of A+E’s financial results are reported as “Equity in the income of investees” in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income.
A+E is owned 50% by the Company and 50% by Hearst. A+E operates a variety of cable channels, including:
•A&E – which offers entertainment programming including original reality and documentary programming
•HISTORY – which offers original unscripted series and event-driven specials
•Lifetime – which offers programming targeted to women
The number of domestic subscribers, based on Nielsen Media Research estimates as of September 2024, are 58 million for each of A&E, HISTORY and Lifetime and include traditional MVPD and the majority of digital OTT subscriber counts. A+E programming is available in approximately 200 countries and territories.
4
Direct-to-Consumer
Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar and Hulu are subscription services that provide video streaming of the Company’s general entertainment and family programming and similar programming from third parties. Outside the U.S., Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar also include international sports programming. The services are offered individually or in various bundles, which may include ESPN+ (see Sports segment discussion), to customers directly or through third-party distributors on mobile and internet connected devices. The majority of Direct-to-Consumer revenue is derived from subscription fees and advertising.
Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar
Disney+ is a subscription-based DTC service with Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic branded programming, which are all top-level selections or “tiles” within the Disney+ interface. In the U.S., subscribers to both Disney+ and Hulu may access certain Hulu programming through a tile on Disney+. Outside the U.S., Disney+ includes a Star branded tile, which features general entertainment programming. In Latin America, Disney+ includes an ESPN branded tile, which features a variety of sports content including live events. The Company plans to launch an ESPN branded tile on Disney+ in the U.S. in early fiscal 2025.
In certain Latin American countries prior to July 2024, we offered Disney+ as well as Star+, a standalone service with a variety of general entertainment and family content and live sports programming. At the end of June 2024, we merged these services into a single Disney+ product offering.
As of September 28, 2024, the estimated number of paid Disney+ subscribers, based on internal management reports, was approximately 123 million.
Disney+ Hotstar is a subscription-based DTC service available in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Programming includes television shows, movies, sports and original series in approximately 10 languages, in addition to gaming and social features. Disney+ Hotstar has exclusive streaming rights to certain cricket programming.
As of September 28, 2024, the estimated number of paid Disney+ Hotstar subscribers, based on internal management reports, was approximately 36 million.
Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar offer content from the Company’s various studios, including library titles, as well as content acquired from third parties.
The majority of Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar revenue is derived from subscription fees and, to a lesser extent, advertising. The Company offers an ad-supported Disney+ service in the U.S., Canada and select Latin American and European markets.
Hulu
Hulu is a domestic subscription-based DTC service with general entertainment content from the Company’s various studios as well as content licensed from third parties. Hulu’s revenue is derived from subscription fees and advertising. Hulu offers subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services with or without advertising in addition to a digital OTT MVPD (Live TV) service. The Live TV service is available with either of Hulu’s SVOD services and includes live linear streams of various cable and broadcast networks. In addition, Hulu offers subscriptions to premium services such as Max, Cinemax, Starz and Paramount+ with Showtime, which can be added to the Hulu service. Certain programming from ABC Network, Freeform and FX Channels is also available on the Hulu SVOD service one day after the linear airing on these channels. As of September 28, 2024, the estimated number of paid Hulu subscribers, based on internal management reports, was approximately 52 million.
Content Sales/Licensing and Other
The majority of Content Sales/Licensing revenue is derived from TV/VOD, theatrical and home entertainment distribution. In addition, revenue is generated from music distribution, stage plays and post-production services through Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound.
The Company also publishes National Geographic magazine, which is reported with Content Sales/Licensing.
TV/VOD Distribution
We license our content to third-party television networks, television stations and other video service providers for distribution to viewers on television or a variety of internet-connected devices, including through other DTC services.
Theatrical Distribution
The Company licenses full-length live-action and animated films to theaters globally. Cumulatively through September 28, 2024, the Company has released approximately 1,100 full-length live-action films and 100 full-length animated films. In the domestic and most major international markets, we generally distribute and market our films directly. In certain international markets our films are distributed by independent companies. In some territories, certain films may be exclusively distributed on our DTC streaming services. During fiscal 2025, we expect to release approximately 15 films.
5
The Company incurs significant marketing and advertising costs before and throughout the theatrical release of a film in an effort to generate public awareness of the film, to increase the public’s intent to view the film and to help generate consumer interest in the subsequent home entertainment and other ancillary markets. These costs are expensed as incurred, which may result in a loss on a film in the theatrical markets, including in periods prior to the theatrical release of the film.
Home Entertainment Distribution
The Company’s film and episodic content is sold in both electronic (home video license and video-on-demand rentals) and physical (DVD and Blu-ray disc) formats. We distribute through e-tailers such as Apple and Amazon, and MVPDs, such as Comcast and DirecTV, for electronic distribution. We have licensed the rights for physical distribution to third parties who generally sell to retailers, such as Walmart and Amazon.
Physical distribution of film content in the home entertainment window generally starts within three months after the theatrical release. Electronic formats are typically available approximately two to ten weeks ahead of the physical release. We also license titles to video-on-demand e-tailers within five weeks after physical home entertainment distribution.
Distribution of episodic content in the home entertainment window includes electronic sales of season passes that can be purchased prior to, during and after the broadcast season with individual episodes typically available to season pass customers shortly after the initial airing of the show in each territory. Access to individual episodes is also available for electronic purchase shortly after the initial airing in each territory.
Disney Theatrical Group
Disney Theatrical Group develops, produces and licenses live entertainment events on Broadway and around the world. Productions include The Lion King, Aladdin, Frozen and Beauty and the Beast.
Disney Theatrical Group also licenses the Company’s IP to Feld Entertainment, the producer of Disney On Ice.
Disney Music Group
The Disney Music Group encompasses all aspects of the Company’s music commercialization and marketing including: recorded music (Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records); music publishing; and concerts. Disney Music Group distributes music both physically and digitally and also licenses music throughout the world in various forms of media, including: television; print; gaming; and consumer products.
Equity Investment
The Company has a 30% effective interest in Tata Play Limited, which operates a direct-to-home satellite distribution platform in India.
Content Production and Acquisition
Produced content primarily consists of original films and episodic programs and network news and daytime/late night programming. Licensed content includes acquired episodic programming rights, movies and specials. Original content is generally produced under the following banners: Disney Branded Television; FX Productions; Lucasfilm; Marvel; National Geographic Studios; Pixar; Searchlight Pictures; Twentieth Century Studios; 20th Television; and Walt Disney Pictures. Original content is also commissioned and produced by various third-party studios. Program development is carried out in collaboration with writers, producers and creative teams.
Costs to produce content are generally capitalized and allocated across Entertainment’s businesses based on the estimated relative value of the distribution windows.
Generally, the Company has full production and distribution rights to its IP. However, Sony Pictures Entertainment has the rights to produce and distribute Spider-Man films as a result of licensing these rights from Marvel prior to the Company’s acquisition of Marvel.
The Company has a significant library of content spanning approximately 100 years of production history as well as acquired libraries. The library of content includes approximately 5,200 live-action film titles, 450 animated film titles and episodic series (series with four or more seasons include approximately: 75 dramas; 55 comedies; 40 non-scripted series; 15 animated series; and 10 live-action series). In addition, the library includes approximately 130 series and 80 films that were produced for initial distribution on our DTC platforms.
In fiscal 2025, the Company plans to produce or commission approximately 215 episodic and film titles. The vast majority of our productions will initially be distributed on our Linear Networks and/or DTC platforms or theatrically. Programming is also produced for third parties, which typically have domestic linear distribution rights while the Company retains domestic video-on-demand and international distribution rights. We also license, acquire or produce local content for use in various countries/territories.
6
Competition and Seasonality
Linear Networks and Direct-to-Consumer compete for viewers’ attention and audience share primarily with other television networks, independent television stations and other media, such as other DTC streaming services, social media and video games. With respect to the sale of advertising time, we compete with other television networks, independent television stations, MVPDs, other DTC streaming services and other advertising media such as digital content, newspapers, magazines, radio and billboards. Our television stations primarily compete for audiences and advertisers in local market areas.
Linear Networks compete with other networks for carriage by MVPDs. The Company’s contractual agreements with MVPDs are renewed or renegotiated from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Consolidation and other market conditions in the cable, satellite and telecommunication distribution industry, including subscriber levels, and other factors may adversely affect the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain contractual terms for the distribution of its various programming services that are as favorable as those currently in place.
Content Sales/Licensing businesses compete with all forms of entertainment and a significant number of companies that produce and/or distribute film and episodic content, distribute products in the home entertainment market, provide pay TV/VOD services, and produce music and live theater.
The operating results of Content Sales/Licensing fluctuate due to the timing and performance of releases in the theatrical, home entertainment and television markets. Release dates are determined by several factors, including competition and the timing of vacation and holiday periods.
We also compete with other media and entertainment companies, independent production companies and video-on-demand services for creative and performing talent, story properties, show concepts, scripted and other programming, advertiser support, production facilities and exhibition outlets that are essential to the success of our Entertainment businesses.
Advertising revenues at Linear Networks and Direct-to-Consumer are subject to seasonal advertising patterns and changes in viewership levels. In general, domestic advertising revenues are typically somewhat higher during the fall and somewhat lower during the summer months. Affiliate revenues vary with the subscriber levels of MVPDs.
SPORTS
The Sports segment generally encompasses the Company’s sports-focused global television and DTC video streaming content production and distribution activities.
The lines of business within Sports include the following:
•ESPN (generally owned 80% by the Company)
◦Domestic:
▪Seven ESPN-branded television channels
▪ESPN on ABC (sports programmed on the ABC Network by ESPN)
▪ESPN+ DTC service
◦International: ESPN-branded channels outside of the U.S.
•Star: Star-branded sports channels in India
In February 2024, the Company, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. announced plans to create a joint venture to offer a sports-focused DTC platform (Venu Sports) that will distribute each party’s domestic sports networks, certain broadcast networks and sports streaming services. In August 2024, a motion for preliminary injunction in a matter before the District Court for the Southern District of New York was granted, enjoining the launch of Venu Sports. See Note 14 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding this legal matter. Further, the formation and launch of Venu Sports are subject to the finalization of definitive agreements among the parties.
In early fall 2025, the Company plans to launch a new DTC offering, which will include live linear streams of the domestic ESPN-branded television channels and ESPN+.
The significant revenues of Sports are as follows:
•Affiliate fees
•Advertising
•Subscription fees
•Other revenue - Fees from the following activities: pay-per-view events on ESPN+, sub-licensing of sports rights, programming ESPN on ABC and licensing the ESPN brand
7
The significant expenses of Sports are as follows:
•Operating expenses, consisting primarily of programming and production costs, technology support costs, operating labor and distribution costs. Programming and production costs include amortization of licensed sports rights and production costs related to live sports and other sports-related programming.
•Selling, general and administrative costs, including marketing costs
•Depreciation and amortization
Domestic ESPN
Branded television channels include seven 24-hour domestic television sports channels:
•ESPN and ESPN2 - both dedicated to professional and college sports as well as sports news and original programming
•ESPNU - dedicated to college sports
•ESPNEWS - re-airs select ESPN studio shows and airs a variety of other programming
•SEC Network - dedicated to Southeastern Conference college athletics
•ACC Network - dedicated to Atlantic Coast Conference college athletics
•ESPN Deportes - airs professional and college sports as well as studio shows in Spanish
ESPN programs ESPN on ABC and recognizes the direct revenues and costs for this programming and receives a fee from the ABC Network, which is eliminated in consolidation. In addition, the Company earns advertising and licensing revenues from providing promotional services and licensing the ESPN BET trademark to PENN Entertainment, Inc. in connection with its operation of a sportsbook.
The Company has various sports programming rights, which are used to produce content aired on ESPN television networks and ESPN+, including live events and sports news. Rights include the National Football League (NFL), college football (including bowl games and the College Football Playoff) and basketball, the National Basketball Association (NBA), mixed martial arts, Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), soccer, Top Rank Boxing, Formula 1, US Open Tennis, the Wimbledon Championships, the Masters golf tournament, the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
The number of subscribers (in millions) for the significant domestic branded channels are as follows:
| Subscribers | |||||
ESPN(1) | 66 | ||||
ESPN2(1) | 66 | ||||
ESPNU(1) | 47 | ||||
ESPNEWS(2) | 40 | ||||
SEC Network(2) | 45 | ||||
ACC Network(2) | 44 | ||||
(1)Based on Nielsen Media Research estimates as of September 2024. Estimates include traditional MVPD and the majority of digital OTT subscriber counts.
(2)Because Nielsen Media Research does not measure this channel, estimated subscribers are according to SNL Kagan as of December 2023.
ESPN+ is a domestic subscription-based DTC service offering thousands of live sporting events, on-demand sports content and other original programming. The service is offered individually or in various bundles with Disney+ and Hulu to customers directly or through third-party distributors on mobile and internet connected devices. ESPN+ revenue is derived from subscription fees, pay-per-view fees and, to a lesser extent, advertising. Live events available through the service include mixed martial arts, soccer, hockey, boxing, baseball, college sports, golf, tennis and cricket. ESPN+ is currently the exclusive distributor for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view events in the U.S. As of September 28, 2024, the estimated number of paid ESPN+ subscribers, based on internal management reports, was approximately 26 million.
International ESPN
The Company operates approximately 45 ESPN branded sports channels outside the U.S. in 4 languages and approximately 115 countries/territories. In the Netherlands, the ESPN branded channels are operated by Eredivisie Media & Marketing CV (EMM) (owned 51% by the Company), which has the media and sponsorship rights to the Dutch Premier League for soccer. Rights include various soccer leagues (including English Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga and multiple UEFA leagues). As of September 2024, the estimated number of subscribers to ESPN branded channels outside the U.S., based on internal management reports, was approximately 55 million.
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Star
The Company operates 10 Star branded sports channels in India, in 4 languages. Star has rights to various sports programming, primarily cricket and soccer. As of September 2024, the estimated number of subscribers to Star branded channels, based on internal management reports, was approximately 79 million.
Equity Investments
The most significant equity investment at Sports is a 30% interest in CTV Specialty Television, Inc. (CTV). The Company’s share of CTV’s financial results is reported as “Equity in the income of investees” in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income. CTV operates television networks in Canada, including The Sports Networks (TSN) 1-5, Le Réseau des Sports (RDS), RDS2, RDS Info, Discovery Canada, Discovery Science and Animal Planet Canada.
Competition and Seasonality
Sports competes for viewers’ attention and audience share primarily with other television networks, independent television stations and other media, such as other DTC streaming services, social media and video games. With respect to the sale of advertising time, we compete with other television networks, independent television stations, MVPDs and other advertising media such as digital content, newspapers, magazines, radio and billboards.
The Sports television networks compete with other networks for carriage by MVPDs. The Company’s contractual agreements with MVPDs are renewed or renegotiated from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Consolidation and other market conditions in the cable, satellite and telecommunication distribution industry and other factors may adversely affect the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain contractual terms for the distribution of its various programming services that are as favorable as those currently in place.
We also compete with other media and entertainment companies and video-on-demand services for sports rights, creative and performing talent and other programming, advertiser support and production facilities that are essential to the success of our Sports businesses.
Advertising revenues are subject to changes in viewership levels and the demand for sports programming. Advertising revenues generated from sports programming are also impacted by the timing of sports seasons and events, which timing may vary throughout the year or may take place periodically (e.g. biannually, quadrennially). Affiliate revenues vary with the subscriber levels of MVPDs.
EXPERIENCES
The lines of business within Experiences along with their significant business activities include the following:
•Parks & Experiences:
◦Domestic:
▪Theme parks and resorts:
•Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
•Disneyland Resort in California
▪Experiences:
•Disney Cruise Line
•Disney Vacation Club
•National Geographic Expeditions (owned 73% by the Company) and Adventures by Disney
•Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii
◦International:
▪Theme parks and resorts:
•Disneyland Paris
•Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (48% ownership interest and consolidated in our financial results)
•Shanghai Disney Resort (43% ownership interest and consolidated in our financial results)
•In addition, the Company licenses its IP to a third party that owns and operates Tokyo Disney Resort
•Consumer Products:
◦Licensing of our trade names, characters, visual, literary and other IP to various manufacturers, game developers, publishers and retailers throughout the world, for use on merchandise, published materials and games
◦Sale of branded merchandise through online, retail and wholesale businesses, and development and publishing of books, comic books and magazines (except National Geographic magazine, which is reported in Entertainment)
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The significant revenues of Experiences are as follows:
•Theme park admissions - Sales of tickets for admission to our theme parks and for premium access to certain attractions (e.g. Lightning Lane)
•Resorts and vacations - Sales of room nights at hotels, sales of cruise and other vacations and sales and rentals of vacation club properties
•Parks & Experiences merchandise, food and beverage - Sales of merchandise, food and beverages at our theme parks and resorts and cruise ships
•Merchandise licensing and retail:
◦Merchandise licensing - Royalties from licensing our IP for use on consumer goods
◦Retail - Sales of merchandise through internet shopping sites, at The Disney Store and to wholesalers
•Parks licensing and other - Revenues from sponsorships and co-branding opportunities, real estate rent and sales and royalties earned on Tokyo Disney Resort revenues
The significant expenses of Experiences are as follows:
•Operating expenses, consisting primarily of operating labor, infrastructure costs, costs of goods sold and distribution costs, supplies, commissions and entertainment offerings. Infrastructure costs include technology support costs, repairs and maintenance, utilities and fuel, property taxes, retail occupancy costs, insurance and transportation
•Selling, general and administrative costs, including marketing costs
•Depreciation and amortization
Significant capital investments:
•In recent years, the majority of the Company’s capital spend has been at our parks and experiences business, which is principally for theme park and resort expansion, new attractions, cruise ships, capital improvements and systems infrastructure.
Parks & Experiences
Walt Disney World Resort
The Walt Disney World Resort is located approximately 20 miles southwest of Orlando, Florida, on approximately 25,000 acres of land. The resort includes theme parks (the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom); hotels; vacation club properties; a retail, dining and entertainment complex (Disney Springs); a sports complex; conference centers; campgrounds; golf courses; water parks; and other recreational facilities designed to attract visitors for an extended stay.
The Walt Disney World Resort is marketed through a variety of international, national and local advertising and promotional activities. A number of attractions and restaurants in each of the theme parks are sponsored or operated by other companies under multi-year agreements.
Magic Kingdom — The Magic Kingdom consists of six themed areas: Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Main Street USA and Tomorrowland. Each area provides a unique guest experience featuring themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
EPCOT — EPCOT consists of four major themed areas: World Showcase, World Celebration, World Nature and World Discovery. All areas feature themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences. Countries represented with pavilions include Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, the United Kingdom and the U.S. CommuniCore Hall and Plaza opened in June 2024, completing a multi-year transformation at EPCOT.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios — Disney’s Hollywood Studios consists of eight themed areas: Animation Courtyard, Commissary Lane, Echo Lake, Grand Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Sunset Boulevard and Toy Story Land. The areas provide behind-the-scenes glimpses of Hollywood-style action through various shows and attractions and offer themed restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom — Disney’s Animal Kingdom consists of a 145-foot tall Tree of Life centerpiece surrounded by five themed areas: Africa, Asia, DinoLand USA, Discovery Island and Pandora - The World of Avatar. Each themed area contains attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences. The park features more than 300 species of live mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians and 3,000 varieties of vegetation. DinoLand USA will be rethemed and in 2027, is planned to open as Tropical Americas, which will feature themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Hotels, Vacation Club Properties and Other Resort Facilities — As of September 28, 2024, the Company owned and operated 18 resort hotels and vacation club properties at the Walt Disney World Resort, with approximately 23,000 rooms and
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3,600 vacation club units. Resort facilities include 500,000 square feet of conference meeting space and Disney’s Fort Wilderness camping and recreational area, which offers approximately 800 campsites.
Disney Springs is an approximately 120 acre themed retail, dining and entertainment complex and consists of four areas: Marketplace, The Landing, Town Center and West Side. The areas are home to approximately 150 venues including the World of Disney retail store, which includes approximately 38,000 square feet of retail space. Most of the Disney Springs facilities are operated by third parties that pay rent to the Company.
Ten independently-operated hotels with approximately 7,000 rooms are situated on property leased from the Company.
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a 230 acre center that hosts professional caliber training and competitions, festival and tournament events and interactive sports activities. The complex, which welcomes both amateur and professional athletes, accommodates multiple sporting events, including baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, tennis and track and field. It also includes a stadium, as well as two venues designed for cheerleading, dance competitions and other indoor sports.
Other recreational amenities and activities available at the Walt Disney World Resort include three championship golf courses, miniature golf courses, full-service spas, tennis, sailing, swimming, horseback riding and a number of other sports and leisure time activities. The resort also includes two water parks: Disney’s Blizzard Beach and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon.
Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort is located in Anaheim, California on approximately 550 acres of land. The Disneyland Resort includes two theme parks (Disneyland and Disney California Adventure), three resort hotels and a retail, dining and entertainment complex (Downtown Disney).
The Disneyland Resort is marketed through a variety of international, national and local advertising and promotional activities. A number of attractions and restaurants in the theme parks are sponsored or operated by other companies under multi-year agreements.
Disneyland — Disneyland consists of nine themed areas: Adventureland, Bayou Country, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Main Street USA, Mickey’s Toontown, New Orleans Square, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Tomorrowland. These areas feature themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Disney California Adventure — Disney California Adventure includes eight themed areas: Avengers Campus, Buena Vista Street, Cars Land, Grizzly Peak, Hollywood Land, Paradise Gardens Park, Pixar Pier and San Fransokyo Square. These areas include themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Hotels, Vacation Club Units and Other Resort Facilities — As of September 28, 2024, the Company owned and operated three resort hotels and vacation club properties at the Disneyland Resort, with approximately 2,400 rooms and 180 vacation club units. Resort facilities included 180,000 square feet of conference meeting space.
Downtown Disney is a themed 15-acre retail, dining and entertainment complex with approximately 30 venues. Most of the Downtown Disney facilities are operated by third parties that pay rent to the Company.
Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa
Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa is a family resort on a 21 acre oceanfront property on Oahu, Hawaii featuring approximately 350 hotel rooms, an 18,000-square-foot spa and 12,000 square feet of conference meeting space. The resort also has approximately 480 vacation club units.
Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris is located approximately 20 miles east of Paris, France in Marne-la-Vallée, on approximately 5,200 acres. The land is being developed pursuant to a master agreement with French governmental authorities. Disneyland Paris includes two theme parks (Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park); seven themed resort hotels; two convention centers; a retail, dining and entertainment complex (Disney Village); and a 27-hole golf facility. Of the 5,200 acres comprising the site, approximately half have been developed to date, including a planned community (Val d’Europe).
Disneyland Park — Disneyland Park consists of five themed areas: Adventureland, Discoveryland, Fantasyland, Frontierland and Main Street USA. These areas include themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Walt Disney Studios Park — Walt Disney Studios Park includes five themed areas: Front Lot, Production Courtyard, Toon Studio, Worlds of Pixar and Avengers Campus. These areas each include themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences. Walt Disney Studios Park is undergoing a multi-year expansion that will include a new themed area based on Frozen, which is planned to open in 2026 and coincide with the renaming of Walt Disney Studios Park to Disney Adventure World.
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Hotels and Other Facilities — Disneyland Paris operates seven resort hotels, with approximately 5,750 rooms and 250,000 square feet of conference meeting space. In addition, we have relationships with seven independently-owned and operated partner hotels, both on- and off-property, that provide approximately 2,100 rooms.
Disney Village is an approximately 500,000-square-foot themed retail, dining and entertainment complex. Construction is currently underway on a multi-year transformation of Disney Village. A number of the Disney Village facilities are operated by third parties that pay rent to the Company.
Val d’Europe is a planned community near Disneyland Paris that is being developed in phases. Val d’Europe currently includes a regional train station, hotels and a town center consisting of a shopping center as well as office, commercial and residential space. Third parties operate these developments on land leased or purchased from the Company.
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
The Company owns a 48% interest in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) owns a 52% interest. The resort is located on Lantau Island on 310 acres and is in close proximity to the Hong Kong International Airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort includes one theme park and three themed resort hotels. A separate Hong Kong subsidiary of the Company is responsible for managing Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The Company is entitled to receive royalties and management fees based on the operating performance of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.
Hong Kong Disneyland — Hong Kong Disneyland consists of eight themed areas: Adventureland, Fantasyland, Grizzly Gulch, Main Street USA, Mystic Point, Tomorrowland, Toy Story Land and World of Frozen. These areas feature themed attractions, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Hotels — Hong Kong Disneyland Resort includes three themed hotels with approximately 1,750 rooms and 16,000 square feet of conference meeting space.
Shanghai Disney Resort
The Company owns a 43% interest in Shanghai Disney Resort and Shanghai Shendi (Group) Co., Ltd (Shendi) owns a 57% interest. The resort is located in the Pudong district of Shanghai on approximately 1,000 acres of land, which includes the Shanghai Disneyland theme park; two themed resort hotels; a retail, dining and entertainment complex (Disneytown); and an outdoor recreation area. A management company, in which the Company has a 70% interest and Shendi has a 30% interest, is responsible for operating the resort and receives a management fee based on the operating performance of Shanghai Disney Resort. The Company is also entitled to royalties based on the resort’s revenues.
Shanghai Disneyland — Shanghai Disneyland consists of eight themed areas: Adventure Isle, Fantasyland, Gardens of Imagination, Mickey Avenue, Tomorrowland, Toy Story Land, Treasure Cove and Zootopia, which opened in December 2023. These areas feature themed attractions, shows, restaurants, merchandise shops and entertainment experiences.
Hotels and Other Facilities — Shanghai Disneyland Resort includes two themed hotels with approximately 1,200 rooms. Disneytown is an 11-acre outdoor complex of retail, dining, and entertainment venues located adjacent to Shanghai Disneyland. Most Disneytown facilities are operated by third parties that pay rent to Shanghai Disney Resort. The Company is currently constructing a third themed hotel, which will have approximately 400 rooms.
Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort is located on 494 acres of land, six miles east of downtown Tokyo, Japan. The Company earns royalties on revenues generated by the Tokyo Disney Resort, which is owned and operated by Oriental Land Co., Ltd. (OLC), a third-party Japanese corporation. The resort includes two theme parks (Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea); six Disney-branded hotels; six other hotels (operated by third parties other than OLC); a retail, dining and entertainment complex (Ikspiari); and Bon Voyage, a Disney-themed merchandise location.
Tokyo Disneyland — Tokyo Disneyland consists of seven themed areas: Adventureland, Critter Country, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Toontown, Westernland and World Bazaar.
Tokyo DisneySea — Tokyo DisneySea is divided into eight “ports of call,” including American Waterfront, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, Mediterranean Harbor, Mermaid Lagoon, Mysterious Island, Port Discovery and Fantasy Springs, which opened in June 2024.
Hotels and Other Resort Facilities — Tokyo Disney Resort includes six Disney-branded hotels with approximately 3,500 rooms and a monorail, which links the theme parks and resort hotels with Ikspiari. The sixth Disney-branded hotel, Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel, opened in June 2024.
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Disney Vacation Club (DVC)
DVC offers ownership interests in 17 resort properties located at the Walt Disney World Resort; Disneyland Resort; Aulani; Vero Beach, Florida; and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Available units are offered for sale under a vacation ownership plan and are operated as hotel rooms when not occupied by vacation club members. The Company’s vacation club units range from deluxe studios to three-bedroom grand villas. Unit counts in this document are presented in terms of two-bedroom equivalents. DVC had approximately 4,500 vacation club units as of September 28, 2024, including the first phases of The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, which opened in July 2024.
Storyliving by Disney
The Company has partnered with a third-party developer to build two Storyliving by Disney residential communities: Cotino in Rancho Mirage, California; and Asteria in Pittsboro, North Carolina. The communities are currently under development, and the Company will earn royalties on revenues generated by sales of the residential homes.
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is a six-ship vacation cruise line, which operates out of ports in North America, Europe and the South Pacific. The Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder are 85,000-ton 875-stateroom ships; the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy are 130,000-ton 1,250-stateroom ships; and the Disney Wish and the Disney Treasure, which was delivered in October 2024, are 140,000-ton 1,250-stateroom ships. The ships cater to families, children, teenagers and adults, with themed areas and activities for each group. Many cruise vacations include a visit to Disney’s Castaway Cay, a 1,000-acre private Bahamian island, or Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, which opened in June 2024 on approximately 600 acres of land on the island of Eleuthera.
Disney Cruise Line will be adding two new ships, the Disney Adventure and the Disney Destiny, which are scheduled to begin sailings in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. The Disney Destiny will be approximately 140,000 tons with 1,250 staterooms and will initially operate in North America. The Disney Adventure will be approximately 200,000 tons with approximately 2,100 staterooms and will initially operate in Southeast Asia.
Between calendar 2027 and 2031, the Company plans to add four more new cruise ships, all of which are currently under contract to be built.
In July 2024, the Company entered into a licensing agreement with OLC, under which OLC will own and operate a Disney-branded cruise ship based in Japan. The ship is currently under contract to be built, with sailings expected to commence by 2029. The Company will earn royalties on revenues generated by OLC.
Adventures by Disney and National Geographic Expeditions
Adventures by Disney and National Geographic Expeditions offer guided tour packages predominantly at non-Disney sites around the world.
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering provides master planning, real estate development, attraction, entertainment and show design, engineering support, production support, project management and research and development.
Consumer Products
Licensing
The Company’s merchandise licensing operations cover a diverse range of product categories, the most significant of which are: toys, apparel, games, home décor and furnishings, accessories, health and beauty, food, footwear, stationery and consumer electronics. The Company licenses characters from its film, television and other properties for use on third-party products in these categories and earns royalties, which are usually based on a fixed percentage of the wholesale or retail selling price of the products and often include minimum guarantee payments from the licensees. Major properties licensed by the Company include: Mickey and Friends, Star Wars, Spider-Man, Disney Princess, Lilo & Stitch, Frozen, Avengers, Winnie the Pooh and Toy Story.
Retail
The Company sells Disney-, Marvel-, Pixar- and Lucasfilm-branded products through Disney Store branded internet sites and Disney Store branded retail locations. At September 28, 2024, the Company operates approximately 40 stores in Japan, 20 stores in North America, two stores in Europe and one store in China.
The Company creates, distributes and publishes a variety of products in multiple countries and languages based on the Company’s branded franchises. The products include children’s books and comic books.
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Competition and Seasonality
The Company’s theme parks and resorts as well as Disney Cruise Line and Disney Vacation Club compete with other forms of entertainment, lodging, tourism and recreational activities. The profitability of the leisure-time industry may be influenced by various factors that are not directly controllable, such as economic conditions including business cycle and exchange rate fluctuations, health concerns, the political environment, travel industry trends, amount of available leisure time, oil and transportation prices, weather patterns and natural disasters. The licensing and retail business competes with other licensors, retailers and publishers of character, brand and celebrity names, as well as other licensors, publishers and developers of game software, online video content, websites, other types of home entertainment and retailers of toys and kids merchandise.
All of the theme parks and the associated resort facilities are operated on a year-round basis. Typically, theme park attendance and resort occupancy fluctuate based on the seasonal nature of vacation travel and leisure activities, the opening of new guest offerings and pricing and promotional offers. Peak attendance and resort occupancy generally occur during the summer months when school vacations occur and during early winter and spring holiday periods. In addition, theme park and resort revenues may be higher during significant celebrations such as theme park or character anniversaries and lower in the periods following such celebrations. The licensing, retail and wholesale businesses are influenced by seasonal consumer purchasing behavior, which generally results in higher revenues during the Company’s first and fourth fiscal quarter, and by the timing and performance of theatrical and game releases and cable programming broadcasts.
STAR INDIA TRANSACTION
The Company and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) plan to close a transaction on or about November 14, 2024, which will form a joint venture that combines our Star-branded and other general entertainment and sports television channels and direct-to-consumer Disney+ Hotstar service in India (Star India) and certain media and entertainment businesses controlled by RIL (the Star India Transaction) (see Note 4 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information).
HUMAN CAPITAL
The Company’s key human capital management objectives are to attract, retain and develop the highest quality talent. To support these objectives, the Company’s human resources programs are designed to develop talent to prepare them for critical roles and leadership positions for the future; reward and support employees through competitive pay, benefit and perquisite programs; enhance the Company’s culture through efforts aimed at making the workplace more engaging and inclusive; acquire talent and facilitate internal talent mobility to create a high-performing, diverse workforce; engage employees as brand ambassadors of the Company’s content, products and experiences; and evolve and invest in technology, tools and resources to enable employees at work.
The Company employed approximately 233,000 people as of September 28, 2024, of which approximately 171,000 were employed in the U.S. and approximately 62,000 were employed outside the U.S. Our global workforce comprises approximately 76% full time and 16% part time employees, with another 8% being seasonal employees. A significant number of employees in various parts of our businesses, including employees of our theme parks, and writers, directors, actors and production personnel for our productions are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, some of our employees outside the U.S. are represented by works councils, trade unions or other employee associations.
Some of our key programs and initiatives to attract, develop and retain our diverse workforce include:
•Health, financial, family resources, well-being and other benefits: Disney’s benefit offerings are designed to meet the varied and evolving needs of our diverse employees and their families. These benefit offerings for eligible employees include:
◦Healthcare options aimed at improving quality of care while limiting out-of-pocket costs
◦Retirement and savings programs that help employees adapt to changing needs and unexpected events and drive financial security in the present and the future
◦Family care resources, such as childcare and senior care programs, long-term care coverage and a family building benefit
◦Paid time-off programs, including vacation and sick and family care leave
◦Free mental health and well-being resources
◦Global well-being programs, including in-person offerings through campus health clubs and virtual and onsite events and activities focused on physical, emotional, financial and social well-being
◦Two Centers for Living Well in the Orlando area that offer convenient, on-demand access to board-certified physicians and counselors
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•Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI): Our DEI objectives are to build and sustain teams that reflect the life experiences of our audiences, while employing and supporting a diverse array of voices in our creative and production teams. Some of our DEI initiatives and programs are:
◦Executive incubator program and creative talent development program designed to engage the next generation of creative executives from underrepresented backgrounds
◦Heroes Work Here, an initiative to hire, train and support U.S. military veterans
◦Over 100 employee-led groups, which represent and support the diverse communities that make up our global workforce
•Talent Development and Education: We invest in creating opportunities to help employees grow and build their careers through training, professional development and educational programs.
◦Our training and professional development programs are presented in online, instructor-led and on-the-job learning formats, including Career@Disney: INTERACTIVE, a new series of immersive virtual and in-person experiences designed to aid employees in enhancing their careers
◦Our education investment program, Disney Aspire, offers assistance for tuition, books and fees to eligible participating employees at a variety of in-network learning providers and universities at levels ranging from high school completion to undergraduate degrees. At the end of fiscal 2024, more than 12,000 current employees were enrolled and more than 5,000 current employees had graduated since the program launched in 2018.
•Social Impact: The Company has a longstanding commitment to social impact by supporting communities through our philanthropic efforts, including through our support of wish granting and children’s hospitals and our efforts to support communities in which we operate and the contributions of our employees. The Company supports employees who make monetary donations to eligible nonprofits with a generous U.S. matching gifts program. In addition, through the Disney VoluntEARS program, we encourage employees to donate their time and talents to their local communities and provide grants that allow eligible employees to direct donations from the Company to nonprofits of their choosing as a benefit for the time they spend volunteering.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
The Company has developed measurable environmental sustainability goals for 2030, based on our assessment of where the Company’s operations have the most significant environmental impacts and where we can most effectively mitigate those impacts. The Company’s goals encompass science-based targets for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, water stewardship, waste reduction, sustainable design in construction and use of more sustainable materials in our products.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION
The Company’s businesses throughout the world are affected by its ability to exploit and protect against infringement of its IP, including trademarks, trade names, copyrights, patents and trade secrets. Important IP includes rights in the content of motion pictures, television programs, electronic games, sound recordings, character likenesses, theme park attractions, books and magazines and merchandise. Risks related to the protection and exploitation of IP rights and information concerning the expiration of certain of our copyrights are set forth in Item 1A – Risk Factors.
REGULATION
Federal Communications Commission Regulation
Television broadcasting is subject to extensive regulation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under federal laws and regulations, including the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. Violation of FCC regulations can result in substantial monetary fines, limited renewals of licenses and, in egregious cases, denial of license renewal or revocation of a license. FCC regulations that affect linear channels include the following:
•Licensing of television stations. Each of the television stations we own must be licensed by the FCC. These licenses are granted for periods of up to eight years, and we must obtain renewal of licenses as they expire in order to continue operating the stations. We (and the acquiring entity in the case of a divestiture) must also obtain FCC approval whenever we seek to have a license transferred in connection with the acquisition or divestiture of a station. The FCC may decline to renew or approve the transfer of a license in certain circumstances and may delay renewals while permitting a licensee to continue operating. Although we have received such renewals and approvals in the past or have been permitted to continue operations when renewal is delayed, there can be no assurance that this will be the case in the future.
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•Station ownership limits. The FCC imposes limitations on the number of television stations and radio stations an entity can own in a specific market, on the combined number of television and radio stations an entity can own in a single market and on the aggregate percentage of the national audience that can be reached by television stations. Currently:
◦FCC regulations may restrict our ability to own more than one television station in a market, depending on the size and nature of the market. We do not own more than one television station in any market.
◦Federal statutes permit our television stations in the aggregate to reach a maximum of 39% of the national audience. Pursuant to the most recent decision by the FCC as to how to calculate compliance with this limit, our eight stations reach approximately 20% of the national audience.
•Dual networks. FCC rules currently prohibit any of the four major broadcast television networks — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — from being under common ownership or control.
•Foreign ownership. The Communications Act generally restricts foreign individuals or entities from collectively owning more than 25% of the voting or equity interest in a U.S. entity that controls a broadcast television license. FCC approval is required to exceed the 25% threshold.
•Regulation of programming. The FCC regulates broadcast programming by, among other things, banning “indecent” programming, regulating political advertising and imposing commercial time limits during children’s programming. Penalties for broadcasting indecent programming can be over $400,000 per indecent utterance or image per station.
Federal legislation and FCC rules also limit the amount of commercial matter that may be shown on broadcast or cable channels during programming designed for children 12 years of age and younger. In addition, broadcast stations are generally required to provide an average of three hours per week of programming that has as a “significant purpose” meeting the educational and informational needs of children 16 years of age and younger. FCC rules also give television station owners the right to reject or refuse network programming in certain circumstances or to substitute programming that the licensee reasonably believes to be of greater local or national importance.
•Cable and satellite carriage of broadcast television stations. With respect to MVPDs operating within a television station’s Designated Market Area, FCC rules require that every three years each television station elect either “must carry” status, pursuant to which MVPDs generally must carry a local television station in the station’s market, or “retransmission consent” status, pursuant to which the MVPDs must negotiate with the television station to obtain the consent of the television station prior to carrying its signal. The ABC owned television stations have historically elected retransmission consent.
•Cable and satellite carriage of programming. The Communications Act and FCC rules regulate some aspects of negotiations between programmers and distributors regarding the carriage of networks by cable and satellite distribution companies, and some cable and satellite distribution companies have sought regulation of additional aspects of the carriage of programming on their systems. New legislation, court action or regulation in this area could have an impact on the Company’s operations.
The foregoing is a brief summary of certain provisions of the Communications Act, other legislation and specific FCC rules and policies. Reference should be made to the Communications Act, other legislation, FCC rules and public notices and rulings of the FCC for further information concerning the nature and extent of the FCC’s regulatory authority.
FCC laws and regulations are subject to change, and the Company generally cannot predict whether new legislation, court action or regulations, or a change in the extent of application or enforcement of current laws and regulations, would have an adverse impact on our operations.
Privacy and Data Protection Regulation
Our businesses are subject to various privacy and data protection laws and regulations in most of the domestic and international jurisdictions in which our businesses operate. Those laws and regulations govern our use, collection, storage, retention and sharing of personal information and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, including within the U.S. at the federal level and among the 50 states. This patchwork of domestic and international laws creates different obligations that are, at times, inconsistent with one another.
While there is no comprehensive privacy law in the U.S. at the federal level, there are a number of sector-specific federal privacy laws applicable to our operations, such as the Video Privacy Protection Act, which restricts the ability to share personal information along with specific viewing information with third parties. In addition, various U.S. states, including California, have passed comprehensive data privacy laws that establish various consumer rights with respect to their personal information, including the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information with third parties, to gain access to the personal information that companies hold about them, to delete personal information and to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive information. We are also subject to privacy legal and regulatory requirements in many jurisdictions outside the United States, including the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union and similar comprehensive data privacy legislation in
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the UK. These laws require organizations that process the personal data of EU and UK citizens to comply with certain data protection standards and privacy rights, including requirements to implement privacy by design; parental consent for processing children’s data; detailed privacy notices and related consents; breach notifications; and data subject rights to enforce access, rectification, objection, restriction, portability and deletion.
We also are subject to laws and regulations that are intended to protect the privacy of children online, including the Children’s Online Protection Privacy Act, a U.S. federal law that requires websites and online services to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13, as well as codes of conduct relating to the design of digital products and services likely to be accessed by children, such as the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code. These laws, regulations and codes of conduct have an impact on the marketing of our products and services, the advertising on certain of our and third-party digital platforms that distribute our content and the design of certain of our new media offerings.
In addition, U.S. state laws and many international data protection laws require notifications to consumers and regulators in the event of a data breach, mandating that businesses provide consumers and/or government agencies notice of unauthorized access or disclosure of certain information.
Interpretation of privacy and data protection laws and enforcement priorities continue to evolve and in some cases, regulators seek to apply novel interpretations of existing laws.
Compliance with privacy and data protection laws and regulations entails significant investments and is costly and requires us to employ dedicated compliance personnel and processes. In addition, many of these laws and regulations provide for substantial fines, private rights of action for damages and other relief.
International Content Regulation
The laws and regulations in many international jurisdictions in which we operate, including in the EU and Canada, require our linear networks or our DTC streaming services to include a certain amount of programming produced in specific jurisdictions or languages or require us to invest specified amounts of our revenues in local content or to acquire content produced by local independent production companies. In addition, some countries regulate the content of films and television programming, which can impact our ability to distribute certain content in those jurisdictions or can require us to make adjustments to the films or programming. These laws and regulations increase our costs and impact our ability to operate our DTC streaming services and linear networks and distribute our films and programming in these markets.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports are available without charge on our website, www.disney.com/investors, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed electronically with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
We also use our Investor Relations website as a means of disclosing material non-public information. We may also use our Investor Relations website for the purpose of complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in Disney to review the information we post on our Investor Relations website.
We are providing the address to our website solely for the information of investors. We do not intend our website address to be an active link or to otherwise incorporate the contents of the website into this report.
ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
For an enterprise as large and complex as the Company, a wide range of factors could materially affect future developments and performance. In addition to the factors affecting specific business operations identified in connection with the description of these operations and the financial results of these operations elsewhere in our filings with the SEC, the most significant factors affecting our business include the following:
RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESSES AND INDUSTRY
Declines in U.S., global and regional economic conditions adversely affect the profitability of our businesses.
Declines in economic conditions, such as recessions, other less severe slowdowns in economic activity and/or inflationary conditions in the U.S. and other regions of the world in which we do business typically adversely affect demand for our products and services and/or costs to operate our businesses, reducing our revenue and earnings. Past declines in economic conditions reduced or resulted in slower growth than expected in, among other things, guest spending at our parks and resorts, purchases of and prices for advertising on our platforms and purchases of Company-branded consumer products, and we expect similar impacts as such conditions recur. Recent inflationary conditions increased certain of our costs, including at our parks
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and resorts. While a number of different factors affect the demand for our products and services, actual or perceived economic conditions could contribute to lower attendance or spending at our parks and experiences businesses, prices that MVPDs pay for our cable programming, purchases of and prices for advertising on our DTC products and linear platforms, subscription levels for our cable programming or DTC platforms or licensing fees, while also continuing to increase the prices we pay for goods, services and labor. Even if inflationary pressures moderate, we expect certain costs, such as for labor, to remain elevated. In addition, an increase in price levels generally, or in price levels in a particular sector, could result in a shift in consumer demand away from the entertainment and experiences we offer, which could also adversely affect our revenues and, at the same time, increase our costs, including borrowing costs as a result of elevated interest rates, making it more difficult to obtain financing for our operations and investments on favorable terms. A decline in economic conditions or a failure of conditions to improve as anticipated could impact implementation or success of our business plans, such as our plans to increase investment in our Experiences segment, the realignment of our cost structure and plans for our DTC ad-supported services, enhancements, pricing structure and price increases. Unfavorable economic conditions also impair the ability of those with whom we do business to satisfy their obligations to us. The adverse impact on our businesses of actual or perceived declines in economic conditions or a failure of conditions to improve as anticipated will depend, in part, on their severity and duration and our ability to mitigate these impacts on our businesses is limited.
Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates impact our revenues and the profitability of our businesses.
Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar impact our revenues and the profitability of our businesses, including by impacting the cost in U.S. dollars of providing our goods and services, our revenues in U.S. dollars generated by our international businesses and the international demand for our domestic products and services. The current or continued strength in the value of the U.S. dollar adversely impacts the U.S. dollar value of revenue we receive and expect to receive from other markets and contributes to reduced international demand for our domestic products and services, including international travel to our domestic parks and resorts. A decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar often increases the cost of labor, goods and services in, or originating from, non-U.S. markets. Although we hedge exposure to fluctuations in certain foreign currencies, any such hedging activity may not substantially offset the negative financial impact of exchange rate fluctuations and is not expected to offset all such negative financial impact, particularly in periods of sustained U.S. dollar strength relative to multiple foreign currencies. Further, economic or political conditions in certain countries outside the U.S. also have reduced, and could continue to reduce, our ability to hedge exposure to currency fluctuations in those countries or our ability to repatriate revenue from those countries.
Changes in technology, in consumer consumption patterns and in how entertainment products are created affect demand for our entertainment products, the revenue we can generate from these products and the cost of producing or distributing these products.
The media entertainment and technology businesses in which we participate increasingly depend on our ability to successfully adapt to new technologies including shifting patterns of content consumption and how entertainment products are generated. New technologies affect the demand for our products, the manner in which our products are distributed to consumers, the ways we charge for and receive revenue for our entertainment products and the stability of those revenue streams, the sources and nature of competing content offerings, the time and manner in which consumers acquire and view some of our entertainment products and the options available to advertisers for reaching their desired audiences. These developments have impacted the business model for certain traditional forms of distribution, as evidenced by the industry-wide decline in ratings for broadcast and cable television, the reduction in demand for home entertainment sales of theatrical content, the development of alternative distribution channels for broadcast and cable programming and declines in subscriber levels for traditional cable channels. These developments have decreased advertising and affiliate revenue at some of our linear networks and have led, and may lead in the future, to the impairment of the value of certain of our assets. In addition, theater-going to watch movies has remained below pre-pandemic levels.
Rules governing new technological developments, such as developments in artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI and large language model tools, remain unsettled, and these developments may affect aspects of our existing business model, including revenue streams for the use of our IP, how we create our entertainment products and the competition we face. In order to respond to the impact of new technologies on our businesses, we regularly consider, and from time to time implement new initiatives and changes to our business models, including by developing, investing in and acquiring DTC products, reorganizing our media and entertainment businesses to advance our DTC strategies and developing new media offerings. There can be no assurance that our DTC offerings, new media offerings and other efforts will successfully respond to technological changes. In addition, declines in certain traditional forms of distribution impacts the cost of content allocable to our DTC offerings, negatively impacting the profitability of our DTC offerings. As part of our DTC strategy, we forgo certain revenue from certain traditional sources as we invest in our DTC offerings. Since launch, our DTC streaming services experienced significant losses. There can be no assurance that the DTC model and other business models we may develop will each be or remain profitable or be as profitable over the long term as our historic business models.
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We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products, which impact demand for our entertainment offerings and products and the profitability of our businesses.
Our businesses create entertainment, travel and consumer products, the success of which depends substantially on consumer tastes and preferences that change in often unpredictable ways. The success of our businesses depends on our ability to consistently produce compelling creative content, which may be distributed, among other ways, through DTC platforms, broadcast, cable, theaters and used in theme park attractions, hotels and other resort facilities and travel experiences and consumer products. Such distribution must meet the changing preferences of the broad consumer market and respond to competition from an expanding array of choices facilitated by technological developments in the delivery of content. The success of our theme parks, resorts, cruise ships and experiences, as well as our theatrical releases, depends on demand for out-of-home entertainment experiences. Demand for certain out-of-home entertainment experiences, such as theater-going to watch movies, has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In addition, many of our businesses depend on acceptance of our offerings and products by consumers outside the U.S. The success of our businesses therefore depends on our ability to successfully predict and adapt to continually evolving consumer tastes and preferences outside as well as inside the U.S. Moreover, we must often make substantial investments in content production and acquisition, acquisition of sports and programming rights, theme park attractions, cruise ships or hotels and other facilities or customer facing platforms before we know the extent to which these products will earn consumer acceptance, and the market, economic or social conditions are sometimes significantly different from the ones we anticipated at the time of the investment decisions. Further, preferences of some consumers are affected by their perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including regarding environmental and social issues. Generally, revenues from, and profitability of, each of our businesses are adversely impacted when our entertainment offerings and products, as well as our methods to make our offerings and products available to consumers, do not align with constantly evolving consumer preferences and tastes or achieve sufficient consumer acceptance.
A variety of uncontrollable events disrupt our businesses, reduce demand for or consumption of our products and services, impair our ability to provide our products and services or increase the cost or reduce the profitability of providing our products and services.
The operation and profitability of our businesses and demand for and consumption of our products and services, particularly our parks and experiences businesses, are highly dependent on the general environment for travel and tourism, including in the specific regions in which our parks and experiences businesses operate. In addition, we have extensive international operations, including our international theme parks and resorts, which are dependent on domestic and international regulations consistent with trade and investment in those regions. The operation of our businesses and the environment for travel and tourism, as well as demand for and consumption of our other entertainment products, is subject to significant adverse impact in the U.S., globally or in specific regions as a result of a variety of factors beyond our control, including: health concerns; adverse weather conditions arising from short-term weather patterns or long-term climate change, including longer and more regular excessive heat conditions, catastrophic events or natural disasters (such as excessive heat or rain, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, droughts, tsunamis and earthquakes); international, political or military developments, including trade and other international disputes and social unrest; macroeconomic conditions, including a decline in economic activity, inflation and foreign exchange rates; and terrorist attacks. These events and others, such as fluctuations in travel and energy costs, supply chain disruptions and malware and other cyber-related attacks or intrusions or other widespread computing, telecommunications or payment processing failures, from time to time have disrupted, and may in the future disrupt, our ability to provide our products and services or in certain instances may affect our ability to obtain insurance coverage with respect to some of these events. An incident or other event that affected our property directly, including a security incident, earthquake or hurricane, would have a direct impact on our ability to provide goods and services and could result in closure of impacted operations or have an extended effect of discouraging consumers from attending our facilities. Moreover, the costs of protecting against such incidents reduces the profitability of our operations.
For example, COVID-19 and measures to prevent its spread impacted our businesses in a number of ways, including the closure of our theme parks and resorts, suspension of cruise ship sailings and guided tours, delayed, or in some cases, shortened or canceled, theatrical releases and disruptions in the production and availability of content, significantly reducing revenues across all of our segments. Certain of our business operations have been temporarily disrupted by payment processing outages and widespread computing failures. Hurricanes, such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which in the case of Hurricane Milton caused Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in Florida to close for one full and partial day, have impacted the operations and profitability of Walt Disney World Resort and may do so in the future. The Company has paused certain operations in certain regions, including in response to sanctions, trade restrictions and related developments and the profitability of certain operations has been impacted as a result of events in the corresponding regions.
In addition, we derive affiliate fees and royalties from the distribution of our programming, sales of our licensed goods and services by third parties, and the management of businesses operated under brands licensed from the Company, and we are therefore dependent on the successes of those third parties for that portion of our revenue. The profitability of one or more of our businesses could be adversely impacted by the significant contraction of distribution channels for our products and services,
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including through third-party licensees or sellers of our licensed goods and services. In addition, third-party suppliers provide products and services essential to the operation of a number of our businesses. A wide variety of factors could influence the success of those third parties and if negative factors significantly impacted a sufficient number of those third parties or materially impacted a supplier of a significant product or service, the profitability of one or more of our businesses could be adversely affected. In specific geographic markets, we have experienced delayed and/or partial payments from certain third parties due to liquidity issues.
We obtain insurance against the risk of losses relating to some of these events, generally including certain physical damage to our property and resulting business interruption, certain injuries occurring on our property and some liabilities for alleged breach of legal responsibilities. When insurance is obtained it is subject to deductibles, exclusions, terms, conditions and limits of liability. The types and levels of coverage we obtain vary from time to time depending on our view of the likelihood of specific types and levels of loss in relation to the cost of obtaining coverage for such types and levels of loss and we experience losses not covered by our insurance, which could be material.
We face risks related to changes in our business strategy, which have affected and may continue to affect our cost structure, the profitability of our businesses and/or the value of our assets.
We adjust our business strategies from time to time in connection with changes in senior management and in our efforts to respond to changes in technology, consumer purchasing and consumption patterns, acceptance of our entertainment offerings, the market for advertising, macroeconomic conditions and other changes in the business environment. For example, in fiscal 2024, we announced entering into a definitive agreement to transfer Star India into a joint venture and related impairment charges; in fiscal 2023, we reorganized our media and entertainment operations, which had been previously reported in one segment, into two segments, Entertainment and Sports; in fiscal 2023 we announced that we would review content, primarily on our DTC services, for alignment with a strategic change in our approach to content curation, resulting in removal of certain content from our platforms and related impairment charges; in fiscal 2022, we announced plans to introduce an ad-supported Disney+ service, new pricing model and price increases and cost realignment; and we have announced exploration of a number of new types of businesses. Changes in strategy, such as was the case with the most recent reorganization of our media and entertainment operations, can lead to workforce disruptions. Our new business strategies are, among other things, subject to execution risk and may not produce the anticipated benefits, such as supporting our growth strategies and enhancing shareholder value. For example, notwithstanding our continuing efforts to rationalize costs, the cost of executing on our DTC strategy may continue to grow or be reduced more slowly than anticipated, which may impact our distribution strategy across businesses/distribution platforms, the types of content we distribute through various businesses/distribution platforms, the timing and sequencing of content windows and ultimately, the profitability of our DTC products and other businesses/distribution platforms. Over the long term, our new organization and strategies could be less successful than our previous organizational structure and strategies.
In addition, changing technology, consumer purchasing patterns and acceptance of content offerings and macroeconomic conditions may impair the value of our assets. We incur costs in connection with changes to our business strategy and have needed and may in the future need to write-down the value of our assets. Among other assets, we have impaired the value of our content primarily at our DTC services and goodwill and intangible assets at our linear networks and impaired the value of certain of our retail store assets. We may write down other assets as our strategy evolves to account for the business environment.
We also make investments in existing or new businesses, including investments in international expansion of our business and in new business lines. For example, in fiscal 2024, we announced plans for additional expansion of our fleet of cruise ships, and in recent years to expand investment in our Experiences segment. In addition, in recent years, we have made significant investments in our businesses, such as expansion and renovation of certain of our theme parks, additional cruise ships, the acquisition of TFCF Corporation (TFCF) and investments related to DTC offerings. The ultimate success of these investments is uncertain, some of these and future investments may ultimately result in returns that are negative or lower than anticipated, and these investments may impact the resources available to, and the profitability of, our other businesses. In addition, our costs increase in connection with these investments, such as additional expenses incurred with the launch on new cruise ships, and we may have significant charges associated with the write-down of assets if the investments are not as successful as anticipated, as occurred in connection with the closure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. Even if our strategies are effective in the long term, our new offerings will generally not be profitable in the short term, results of our new offerings are unlikely to be even quarter over quarter and we may not expand into new markets as or when anticipated. Our ability to forecast for new businesses is impacted by our lack of experience operating in those new businesses, speed with which the competitive landscape changes, volatility beyond our control (such as the events beyond our control noted above) and our ability to obtain or develop the content and rights on which our projections are based. Accordingly, we may not achieve our forecasted outcomes.
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Increased competitive pressures impact our revenues, increase our costs and impact the profitability of our businesses.
We face substantial competition in each of our businesses from alternative providers of the products and services we offer and from other forms of entertainment, lodging, tourism and recreational activities. This includes, among other types, competition for human resources, content and other resources we require in operating our business. For example:
•Our programming and production operations compete to obtain creative, performing, production and business talent, sports and other programming, story properties, advertiser support, production facilities and market share with traditional and new media platforms, including other video-on-demand services and sources of broadband delivered content, studio operators and television networks.
•Our television networks and stations and DTC offerings compete for the sale of advertising time with traditional and new media platforms, including other television and video-on-demand services and various forms of internet and mobile delivered content, which offer advertising delivery technologies that are more targeted than can be achieved through traditional means, as well as with newspapers, magazines, billboards and radio stations.
•Our television networks compete for carriage of their programming with other programming providers.
•Our theme parks and resorts and experiences compete for guests with all other forms of entertainment, lodging, tourism and recreation activities and compete for technology, creative, performing and business talent, including with other theme park and resort operators.
•Our content sales/licensing operations compete for customers with all other forms of entertainment.
•Our consumer products business competes with other licensors and creators of IP.
•Our DTC streaming services compete for customers with an increasing number of competitors’ DTC offerings, all other forms of media and all other forms of entertainment, as well as for technology, creative, performing and business talent and for content.
Technological developments, including developments in generative AI tools that can be used to create competing low-cost content, and changes in market structure, including consolidation of suppliers of resources and distribution channels, increase competition in these areas. Increased competition raises the cost of programming, including for sports and other products, and diverts consumers from our products and services or to other products and services or other forms of entertainment and experiences. In addition, given the nature of travel planning, consumers typically delay their consumption of certain of our products and services, such as our theme parks and resorts, in connection with planned major product launches of regional travel industry competitors. Each of these competitive pressures could reduce our revenue and increase our marketing costs.
Competition for the acquisition of resources can further increase the cost of producing our products and services; change the composition of our offerings, including sports; deprive us of talent needed for our entertainment and experiences businesses, including the talent necessary to produce high quality creative material; increase employee turnover and staffing instability; or increase our labor costs. Competition also reduces, or limits growth in, prices for our products and services, including advertising rates and subscription fees at our linear networks and DTC offerings, parks and resorts admissions and room rates and prices for consumer products from which we derive license revenues.
We face risks related to the renewal of long-term programming or distribution contracts on sufficiently favorable terms.
We enter into long-term contracts for both the acquisition and the distribution of media programming and products, including contracts for the acquisition of programming rights for sporting events and other programs, and contracts for the distribution of our programming to content distributors. As these contracts expire, we renew or renegotiate the contracts, which from time to time has led to service blackouts when distribution contracts expired before renewal terms were agreed. We may lose programming rights or distribution rights if we are unable to renew these contracts on acceptable terms. As a result, our portfolio of acquired programming rights, such as sporting events, and the distributors of our programming and the portfolio of programming rights our distributors acquire have changed and will continue to change over time. Even if these contracts are renewed, the cost of obtaining certain programming rights has increased and may continue to increase (or increase at faster rates than our historical experience) and programming distributors, facing pressures resulting from increased subscription fees and alternative distribution channels, demand terms (including with respect to the pricing for, and the nature and amount of, programming distributed) that reduce our revenue from distribution of programs or increase revenue at slower rates than our historical experience. For example, the terms of recent renewals of carriage agreements have included fewer of our linear networks or the opportunity to offer multiple genre-specific bundle options of fewer than all our linear networks while providing for certain of our DTC streaming services to be made available to the distributor’s subscribers. Moreover, our ability to renew these contracts on favorable terms is affected by a number of factors, such as consolidation in the market for program distribution and the entrance of new participants in the market for distribution of content on digital platforms. With respect to the acquisition of programming rights, particularly sports programming rights, the impact of these long-term contracts on our results over the term of the contracts depends on a number of factors, including the strength of advertising markets, subscription levels and programming rights costs increases, effectiveness of marketing efforts and the size of viewer audiences. There can be
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no assurance that revenues from programming based on these rights will exceed the cost of the rights plus the other costs of producing and distributing the programming.
We face risks related to environmental, social and governance matters and any related reporting obligations.
U.S. and international regulators, investors and other stakeholders are increasingly focused on environmental, social and governance matters. For example, new domestic and international laws and regulations relating to environmental, social and governance matters, including environmental sustainability, climate change, human rights and human capital management, have been adopted or are under consideration, some of which include specific, target-driven disclosure requirements or obligations. Our response has increased our compliance costs, including from increased investment in technology and appropriate expertise and required the implementation of new reporting processes, entailing additional compliance risk.
In addition, we have undertaken or announced a number of related actions and goals, which will require changes to operations and ongoing investment. There is no assurance that our initiatives will achieve their intended outcomes or that we will achieve any of these goals. Consumer, government and other stakeholder perceptions of our initiatives often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands. In addition, our ability to implement some initiatives or achieve some goals is dependent on external factors. For example, our ability to meet certain environmental sustainability goals or initiatives will depend in part on third-party collaboration, the availability of suppliers that can satisfy new requirements, mitigation innovations and/or the availability of economically feasible solutions at scale.
We face risks related to damage to our reputation or brands.
Our reputation and globally recognizable brands are integral to the success of our businesses. Because our brands engage consumers across our businesses, some types of damage to our reputation or brands have an impact on all of our businesses. Because some of our brands are globally recognized, some types of brand damage are not locally contained. Maintenance of the reputation of our Company and brands depends on many factors, including the quality of our offerings, maintenance of trust with our customers and our ability to successfully innovate. In addition, we may pursue brand or product integration combining previously separate brands or products targeting different audiences under one brand or pursue other business initiatives inconsistent with one or more of our brands, and there is no assurance that these initiatives will be accepted by our customers and not adversely impact one or more of our brands. Significant negative claims or publicity regarding the Company or its operations, products, management, employees, practices, business partners, business decisions, social responsibility and culture, which may be amplified by social media, adversely impact our brands or reputation, even if such claims are untrue. Damage to our reputation or brands could impact our sales, business opportunities, profitability, recruiting and valuation of our securities.
Various risks may impact the success of our DTC streaming services.
The success of our DTC strategy and profitability of our DTC streaming services will be impacted by the success of the reorganization of our media and entertainment business and the strategic change in our approach to content curation initiated in fiscal 2023; our ability to drive subscriber additions and retention based on the attractiveness of our content, manage churn, achieve the desired financial impact of our DTC pricing, bundling and distribution determinations, the Disney+ ad supported service, monetization and cost containment strategy and the launch of the ESPN flagship DTC service; and the effects of our determinations with regard to distribution for our creative content across windows. The initial costs of marketing campaigns are generally recognized in the business of initial exploitation, and amortization of capitalized production costs and licensed programming rights are generally allocated across businesses based on the estimated relative value of the distribution windows. Accordingly, our distribution determinations impact the costs of each business, including the applicable DTC service. There are a number of competing DTC businesses. Consumers may not be willing to pay for an expanding set of DTC services at increasing prices, potentially exacerbated by challenging economic conditions, such as during periods of high inflation or declines in economic activity. In addition, such economic conditions negatively impact the purchase of and price for advertising on our DTC streaming services. We face competition for creative talent and sports and other programming rights and are sometimes not successful in recruiting and retaining talent and obtaining desired programming rights and face increased costs to do so. We have experienced flat subscriber growth or net losses of subscribers in periods. Our content does not always successfully attract and retain subscribers in the quantities that we expect. Our content is subject to cost pressures and may cost more than we expect. We may not successfully manage our costs to meet our profitability goals. Government regulation, including revised foreign content and ownership regulations as well as government-imposed content restrictions, impacts the implementation of our DTC business plans. The highly competitive environment in which we operate puts pricing pressure on our DTC offerings and may require us to lower our prices or not take price increases to attract or retain customers or lead to higher churn rates. These and other risks may impact the profitability and success of our DTC streaming services.
Potential credit ratings actions, increases in interest rates, or volatility in the U.S. and global financial markets could impede access to, or increase the cost of, financing our operations and investments.
Our borrowing costs have been and can be affected by short- and long-term debt ratings assigned by nationally recognized ratings agencies that are based, in part, on the Company’s performance as measured by credit metrics such as leverage and interest coverage ratios. Our elevated indebtedness and leverage ratios in response to the financial impact of COVID-19 on our
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businesses resulted in S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings downgrading our debt ratings. As of September 28, 2024, Moody’s Ratings’ long- and short-term debt ratings for the Company were A2 and P-1 (Stable), respectively; S&P Global Ratings’ long- and short-term debt ratings for the Company were A- and A-2 (Positive), respectively; and Fitch Ratings’ long- and short-term debt ratings for the Company were A- and F2 (Stable), respectively. Any future downgrades could increase our cost of borrowing and/or make it more difficult for us to obtain financing on acceptable terms.
In addition, increases in interest rates have increased our cost of borrowing and volatility in U.S. and global financial markets could impact our access to, or further increase the cost of, financing. Past disruptions in the U.S. and global credit and equity markets made it more difficult for many businesses to obtain financing on acceptable terms. These conditions tended to increase the cost of borrowing and if they recur, our cost of borrowing could increase and it may be more difficult to obtain financing for our operations or investments.
Elevated indebtedness or leverage ratios could adversely affect us, including by decreasing our business flexibility.
Elevated indebtedness could have the effect of, among other things, reducing our financial flexibility and our ability to respond to changing business and economic conditions and other uncontrollable events. Debt repayment obligations could also reduce funds available for investments, capital expenditures, share repurchases and dividends, and other activities and may create competitive disadvantages for us relative to other companies with lower debt levels. Our leverage ratios increased as the result of COVID-19’s impact on financial performance, which caused certain of the credit ratings agencies to downgrade their assessment of our credit ratings. Downgrades to our credit ratings may negatively impact our cost of borrowings and/or make it more difficult for us to obtain financing on acceptable terms.
Labor disputes disrupt our operations and adversely affect the profitability of our businesses.
A significant number of employees in various parts of our businesses, including employees of our theme parks, and writers, directors, actors and production personnel for our productions are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, some of our employees outside the U.S. are represented by works councils, trade unions or other employee associations. Further, some employees of licensees who manufacture and retailers who sell our licensed consumer products, and employees of providers of programming content (such as sports leagues) are covered by labor agreements with their employers. From time to time, collective bargaining agreements and other labor agreements expire, requiring renegotiation of their terms. In general, labor disputes and work stoppages involving our employees; persons employed on our productions; athletes or others employed by, or otherwise connected with, sports leagues or organizers; or the employees of our licensees or retailers who sell our licensed consumer products or providers of programming content may disrupt or lead to closure of certain operations and reduce our revenues and the profitability of our businesses. For example, in fiscal 2023, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) commenced a work stoppage, which lasted for almost five months, and members of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing television and movie actors, also commenced a work stoppage, which lasted for almost four months. These work stoppages affected our productions and the pipeline for programming and theatrical releases, which resulted in reduced revenue for the impacted businesses. The new collective bargaining agreements with these and another entertainment guild and recently with certain labor unions at our domestic parks and resorts will increase our costs to create our content and to operate our domestic parks and resorts, respectively. In July 2024, members of SAG-AFTRA commenced a work stoppage against video game employers, which is ongoing. As a general matter, resolution of labor disputes and negotiation of new collective bargaining agreements, including as a result of rate increases and other changes to employee benefits, has in the past increased our costs and may increase our costs in the future.
The seasonality of certain of our businesses and timing of certain of our product offerings could exacerbate negative impacts on our operations.
Each of our businesses is normally subject to seasonal variations and variations in connection with the timing of our product offerings, including as follows:
•Revenues at the Experiences segment fluctuate with changes in theme park attendance and resort occupancy resulting from the seasonal nature of vacation travel and leisure activities and seasonal consumer purchasing behavior, which generally results in increased revenues during the Company’s first and fourth fiscal quarters. Peak attendance and resort occupancy generally occur during the summer months when school vacations occur and during early winter and spring holiday periods. Revenues at the Experiences segment also sometimes fluctuate with changes in theme park attendance and resort occupancy resulting from special celebrations or events that increase demand in the applicable periods and decrease demand in prior or later periods as guests time their vacations to occur during such special celebrations or events. In addition, licensing revenues fluctuate with the timing and performance of our theatrical releases and cable programming broadcasts.
•Revenues from television networks and stations are subject to seasonal advertising patterns and changes in viewership levels, including related to certain sporting events. In general, domestic general entertainment linear networks advertising revenues are typically somewhat higher during the fall and somewhat lower during the summer months,
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and sports advertising revenues are impacted by the timing of sports seasons and events, which varies throughout the year and/or take place periodically.
•Revenues from content sales/licensing fluctuate due to the timing of content releases across various distribution markets. Release dates and methods are determined by a number of factors, including, among others, competition, and the timing of vacation and holiday periods.
•DTC revenues fluctuate based on: changes in the number of subscribers, mix of subscribers to different offerings and subscriber fees; viewership levels; and the demand for sports and film and television content. Each of these is sensitive to the availability of content, which varies from time to time throughout the year based on, among other things, sports seasons, content production schedules and sports league work stoppages.
Accordingly, negative impacts on our business occurring during a time of typical high seasonal demand such as our park closures due to hurricane damage during the summer travel season or other high seasons, could have a disproportionate effect on the results of that business for the year.
Our operations are impacted by our ability to attract and retain employees and costs of employee wages and health, welfare and retirement benefits, including postretirement medical benefits for some employees and retirees, may reduce our profitability.
With approximately 233,000 employees, the success of our businesses is substantially affected by our ability to attract and retain a workforce with the necessary skills for our varied businesses, including executing successfully on succession planning for the talent at all levels necessary to advance the Company’s key objectives and strategies. Further, our profitability is substantially affected by labor costs, including wages and our health, welfare and retirement benefits, including the costs of medical benefits for current employees and the costs of postretirement medical benefits for some current employees and retirees. We may experience significant increases in these costs as a result of macroeconomic, regulatory, competitive and other factors. For example, labor costs in our parks and resorts have increased, and we expect will continue to increase, as a result of collective bargaining agreements and wage laws and regulations where we operate. Further, certain conditions in the healthcare industry, such as prolonged workforce shortages or rising prescription drug prices, may lead to an increase in the cost of medical insurance and expenses. In addition, for benefits provided to certain employees, changes in asset values, investment returns and discount rates used to calculate pension and postretirement medical expense and related assets and liabilities can be volatile and may have an unfavorable impact on our costs in some years. These factors may also increase future funding requirements for these benefit plans. There can be no assurance that we will succeed in attracting and retaining the human resources necessary for the success of our businesses or in limiting cost increases from wages and other employee benefits, which could reduce the profitability of our businesses.
We face risks related to costs and expenses in connection with the acquisition of NBC Universal’s (NBCU) equity interest in Hulu and the TFCF acquisition.
On November 1, 2023, NBCU exercised its right to require the Company to purchase NBCU’s equity interest in Hulu under a put/call arrangement between the parties. The purchase price for NBCU’s equity interest in Hulu will be determined based on NBCU’s equity ownership percentage of the greater of Hulu’s equity fair value as of September 30, 2023 based on a contractual appraisal process, and a guaranteed floor value. Further, the Company will share with NBCU 50% of the Company’s tax benefit from the purchase of NBCU’s interest in Hulu, which payments are expected to be made primarily over a 15-year period. In May 2024, the Company and NBCU entered into a confidential arbitration to resolve a dispute regarding the contractual appraisal process, in which the parties seek declaratory relief, equitable relief and unspecified damages (see Note 2 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information). In addition, we may incur significant costs and expenses in connection with the TFCF acquisition, including costs for which we have established reserves or which may lead to reserves in the future. The cost to purchase NBCU’s equity interest in Hulu and related obligations to NBCU and any such other costs could negatively impact the Company’s cash position and result in the Company incurring additional indebtedness.
RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, CYBERSECURITY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS
The success of our businesses is highly dependent on the existence and maintenance of intellectual property rights in the entertainment products and services we create.
The value to us of our IP is dependent on the scope and duration of our rights as defined by applicable laws in the U.S. and abroad and the manner in which those laws are construed. Where those laws are drafted or interpreted in ways that limit the extent or duration of our rights, or if existing laws are changed, our ability to generate revenue from our IP may decrease, or the cost of obtaining and maintaining rights may increase. The terms of some copyrights for IP related to some of our products and services have expired, including the copyright term for the short film Steamboat Willie (1928) and early versions of characters depicted in this film, and other copyrights will expire in the future. For example, in the United States and countries that look to the United States copyright term when shorter than their own, the copyright term for early works and the specific early versions of characters depicted in those works expires at the end of the 95th calendar year after the date the copyright was originally
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secured in the United States. As copyrights expire, we expect that revenues generated from such IP will be negatively impacted to some extent.
The unauthorized use of our IP may increase the cost of protecting rights in our IP or reduce our revenues. The convergence of computing, communications and entertainment devices, increased broadband internet speed and penetration, increased availability and speed of mobile data transmission and increasingly sophisticated attempts to obtain unauthorized access to data systems have made the unauthorized digital copying and distribution of our films, television productions and other creative works easier and faster and protection and the enforcement of IP rights more challenging. The unauthorized distribution and access to entertainment content generally continues to be a significant challenge for IP rights holders. Further, the availability of certain AI tools has facilitated the creation of infringing works based on the unauthorized use of our IP. Inadequate laws or weak enforcement mechanisms to protect entertainment industry IP in one country can adversely affect the results of the Company’s operations worldwide, despite the Company’s efforts to protect its IP rights. Distribution innovations have increased opportunities to access content in unauthorized ways. Additionally, negative economic conditions coupled with a shift in government priorities could lead to less enforcement. These developments require us to devote substantial resources to protecting our IP against unlicensed use and present the risk of increased losses of revenue as a result of unlicensed distribution of our content and other commercial misuses of our IP. The legal landscape for some new technologies, including some AI tools, remains uncertain, and development of the law in this area could impact our ability to protect against infringing uses.
With respect to IP developed by the Company and rights acquired by the Company from others, the Company is subject to the risk of challenges to our copyright, trademark and patent rights by third parties. In addition, the availability of copyright protection and other legal protections for IP generated by certain new technologies, such as generative AI, is uncertain. Successful challenges to our rights in IP typically result in increased costs for obtaining rights or the loss of the opportunity to earn revenue from or utilize the IP that is the subject of challenged rights. From time to time, third parties allege that the Company is infringing certain third-party IP rights. Technological changes in industries in which the Company operates and extensive patent coverage in those areas increase the risk of such claims being brought and prevailing.
Cybersecurity and other data compromises and/or attempted compromises increase our costs, disrupt our services and business plans, lead to the disclosure of our confidential information, including unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and negatively impact our reputation.
We maintain information necessary to conduct our business, including confidential and proprietary information as well as personal information regarding our customers and employees, in digital form. We also use computer and cloud-based systems to deliver our products and services and operate our businesses. Data maintained in digital form is subject to the risk of unauthorized access, modification, exfiltration, destruction or denial of access and our systems are subject to cyberattacks that from time to time result in disruptions in service. We also use many third-party systems and software, which are also subject to supply chain and other cyberattacks.
We have developed and maintain an information security program to assess, identify and manage cyber risks and the continued development and maintenance of this program is costly and requires ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change, including as a result of the proliferation of AI tools, and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated. We face an increasingly challenging cybersecurity environment with expanding and evolving threats from a variety of potential bad actors. While we employ various tools in an effort to protect our data and systems, certain of our defenses remain subject to human error. Remote work by our employees and contractors and those of the third parties with whom we engage create additional risks. Despite our efforts, the risk of a potentially material incident as a result of unauthorized access, modification, exfiltration, destruction or denial of access with respect to data or systems and other cybersecurity attacks cannot be eliminated, and from time to time our systems have been compromised and may in the future be compromised. For example, as previously disclosed in the Company’s Form 10-Q for the third quarter of fiscal 2024, in fiscal 2024 over a terabyte of data from one of the communications systems used by the Company was improperly exfiltrated and released. In addition, we provide confidential, proprietary and personal information to third parties in certain cases, which information and related systems have been compromised and are also subject to the risk of future material compromise.
If our information or cyber security systems or data are compromised in a material way, our ability to conduct our business may be impaired, we may lose profitable opportunities or the value of those opportunities may be diminished and, as described above, we may lose revenue as a result of unlicensed use of our intellectual property. We have experienced and may in the future experience cybersecurity attacks that result in the misappropriation of personal information of our customers and/or employees, which may result in reputational damage, loss of business and/or harm to employee morale. Related remediation of harm to our customers and employees or damages arising from litigation and/or fines or other actions we take with respect to judicial or regulatory actions arising out of an incident create additional costs and/or impacts to our businesses. Insurance does not cover all potential losses or damages associated with such attacks or events. Our systems and users and those of third parties with whom we engage are continually attacked, sometimes successfully, and there can be no assurance that future incidents will not have material adverse effects on our operations or financial results.
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Regulations applicable to our businesses impact the profitability of our businesses.
Each of our businesses, including our broadcast networks and television stations, is subject to a variety of U.S. and international regulations, which impact the operations and profitability of our businesses. Some of these regulations include:
•U.S. FCC regulation of our television and radio networks, our national programming networks and our owned television stations. See Item 1 — Federal Communications Commission Regulation.
•Federal, state and foreign privacy and data protection laws and regulations, including with respect to child safety. See Item 1 — Privacy and Data Protection Regulation.
•Regulation of the safety and supply chain of consumer products and theme park operations, including regulation regarding the sourcing, importation and the sale of goods.
•Land planning, use and development regulations applicable to our theme parks operations.
•Environmental protection regulations.
•U.S. and international anti-corruption laws, sanction programs, trade restrictions, anti-money laundering laws or currency controls.
•Restrictions on the manner in which content is currently licensed and distributed, ownership restrictions or film or television content requirements, investment obligations or quotas. See Item 1 — International Content Regulation.
•Domestic and international labor laws, tax laws and antitrust laws.
New laws and regulations, as well as changes in any of these current laws and regulations or regulator activities (or, if applicable, private litigation to enforce such laws and regulations) in any of these areas, or others, may require us to incur additional compliance costs, may restrict our ability to execute on our business strategies as planned or offer products and services in ways that are profitable, and create an increasingly unpredictable regulatory landscape. In addition, ongoing and future developments in international political, trade and security policy may lead to new regulations limiting international trade and investment and disrupting our operations outside the U.S., including our international theme parks and resorts operations in France, mainland China and Hong Kong. For example, in 2022 the U.S. and other countries implemented a series of sanctions against Russia in response to events in Russia and Ukraine; U.S. agencies have enhanced trade restrictions, including new prohibitions on the importation of goods from certain regions and other jurisdictions are considering similar measures; and U.S. state governments have become more active in passing legislation targeted at specific sectors and companies and applying existing laws in novel ways to new technologies, including streaming and online commerce. Further the legal and regulatory landscape for certain new technologies, such as AI, is uncertain and evolving and our compliance obligations could increase our costs or limit how we may use these technologies in one or more of our businesses.
Our operations outside the U.S. are affected by the operation of laws in those jurisdictions.
Our operations outside the U.S. are in many cases subject to the laws of the jurisdictions in which they operate rather than, or in addition to, U.S. law. Laws in some international jurisdictions differ in significant respects from those in the U.S. These differences can affect our ability to react to changes in our business, and our rights or ability to enforce rights are sometimes different than would be expected under U.S. law. Moreover, enforcement of laws in some international jurisdictions can be inconsistent and unpredictable, which can affect both our ability to enforce our rights and to undertake activities that we believe are beneficial to our business. In addition, the business and political climate in some jurisdictions may encourage corruption, which could reduce our ability to compete successfully in those jurisdictions while remaining in compliance with local laws or U.S. anti-corruption laws applicable to our businesses. As a result, our ability to generate revenue and our expenses in non-U.S. jurisdictions may differ from what would be expected if U.S. law alone governed these operations.
RISKS RELATED TO OWNERSHIP OF OUR STOCK
The price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile.
The price of our common stock has experienced substantial volatility and may continue to be volatile. Various factors have impacted, and may continue to impact, the price of our common stock, including, among others, changes in management; variations in our operating results; variations between our actual results and expectations of securities analysts; changes in our estimates, guidance or business plans; changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts; the activities, operating results or stock price of our competitors or other industry participants in the industries in which we operate; the announcement or completion of significant transactions by us or a competitor; events affecting the stock market generally; and the economic and political conditions in the U.S. and internationally, as well as other factors described in this Item 1A. Some of these factors may adversely impact the price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. Further, volatility in the price of our common stock may negatively impact one or more of our businesses, including by increasing stock awards for our employees who participate in our stock incentive programs or limiting our financing options for acquisitions and other business expansion.
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GENERAL RISKS
The Company’s amended and restated bylaws provide to the fullest extent permitted by law that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for certain legal actions between the Company and its stockholders, which could increase costs to bring a claim, discourage claims or limit the ability of the Company’s stockholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum viewed by the stockholders as more favorable for disputes with the Company or the Company’s directors, officers or other employees.
The Company’s amended and restated bylaws provide to the fullest extent permitted by law that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action or proceeding asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director, officer or stockholder of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action or proceeding asserting a claim arising pursuant to, or seeking to enforce any right, obligation or remedy under, any provision of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”), the Certificate of Incorporation or these Bylaws (as each may be amended from time to time), (iv) any action or proceeding as to which the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, (v) or any action or proceeding asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The choice of forum provision may increase costs to bring a claim, discourage claims or limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with the Company or the Company’s directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against the Company or the Company’s directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in the Company’s amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, the Company may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. The exclusive forum provision in the Company’s amended and restated bylaws will not preclude or contract the scope of exclusive federal or concurrent jurisdiction for actions brought under the federal securities laws including the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the respective rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
The Company has received no written comments regarding its periodic or current reports from the staff of the SEC that were issued 180 days or more preceding the end of fiscal 2024 that remain unresolved.
ITEM 1C. Cybersecurity
Risk Management and Strategy
We have implemented processes for assessing, identifying and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats as part of our overall risk management program. Our cybersecurity program is informed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework as well as other globally recognized standards. We use a layered defense model, incorporating a wide range of technologies and practices in an effort to prevent, detect and mitigate threats. These measures include intrusion detection and prevention systems, multi-factor authentication, encryption and endpoint protection tools. We also implement threat detection and response solutions. To address emerging threats, we employ automated monitoring, vulnerability scans and patch management processes. Regular assessments, such as penetration tests, security audits and table-top exercises, are conducted to identify vulnerabilities and promote incident response and risk mitigation. We also provide privacy and information security trainings for our employees on a recurring basis. From time to time, we engage assessors, consultants and other third parties to assist with assessing, identifying and managing cybersecurity risks, including assisting us to conduct some of the foregoing assessments. Our cybersecurity risk management processes also are informed by intelligence received from recognized cybersecurity industry experts and other third-party sources, and as appropriate we engage outside counsel to advise on regulatory compliance and other cybersecurity risk management efforts.
In addition, we have processes designed to oversee and identify cybersecurity risks associated with our use of third-party service providers. Where appropriate based on the data and intellectual property to which these providers are reasonably expected to have access, we conduct security assessments and due diligence reviews of third-party systems for compliance with our security standards, and we include data protection language in our agreements with these third parties.
Further, as part of our cybersecurity risk management processes, we maintain an incident response plan (IRP) that establishes a set of procedures for reporting and handling cybersecurity events. The IRP delegates to an internal incident response team the initial assessment, investigation and remediation of the event and includes, among other procedures, guidelines for escalation to senior management and engagement with law enforcement. In certain instances, events are escalated to the Cybersecurity Incident Disclosure Subcommittee, which is a subcommittee of the Company’s Risk Management Committee (RMC) (discussed further below) and is responsible for, among other things, the accurate and timely disclosure of
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material cybersecurity incidents under the federal securities laws, including making the materiality determination and approving related securities disclosures.
As discussed in further detail in Item 1A – Risk Factors, the Company faces an increasingly challenging cybersecurity environment, and from time to time the persistent efforts of bad actors to gain unauthorized access to our and our service providers’ information systems and our confidential and proprietary information are successful. In fiscal 2024, we did not identify any cybersecurity threats that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. However, despite our efforts, we cannot eliminate all risks from cybersecurity threats or provide assurances that we have not experienced undetected cybersecurity incidents or will not discover additional information about previously detected events.
Governance
The Company’s Board of Directors has delegated to the Audit Committee oversight responsibility for information technology risks, including cybersecurity and data security risks and mitigation strategies. The Audit Committee at least annually receives reports from the Senior Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) concerning the Company’s cybersecurity and data security risks, including ongoing efforts to prevent, detect, monitor, remediate and manage such cybersecurity threats, the threat environment, incident updates and emerging cybersecurity practices and technologies. The Chair of the Audit Committee reports on its discussion, including concerning cybersecurity matters, to the full Board. In addition, from time to time, senior management briefs the Audit Committee, the Audit Committee Chair and the Board on cybersecurity matters potentially of interest, including cybersecurity events, regulatory disclosures and regulatory trends.
Day-to-day management of our information security strategy and operations is currently the responsibility of our CISO, who reports into our Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the Company, our CISO held senior leadership roles in various other organizations, including as CISO for a publicly traded, global retailer and as a consultant advising organizations on information security strategy, and as a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service focusing on electronic crimes. That experience is supplemented by the collective experience and expertise of our dedicated internal teams of cybersecurity personnel.
In addition, the Company’s RMC, a management level committee that includes, among others, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, oversees and supports the Company’s ongoing efforts to identify, assess and prioritize, manage and monitor the Company’s enterprise risks, including risks related to privacy and cybersecurity, and periodically reports certain discussions to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Audit Committee. The RMC’s Cybersecurity Incident Disclosure Subcommittee, whose members include the members of the RMC, the CISO and lead securities counsel, is tasked with assessing significant events for materiality, related timely and accurate disclosure under the securities laws and, as appropriate, escalating such events to the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors.
ITEM 2. Properties
Our parks and resorts locations and other properties of the Company and its subsidiaries are described in Item 1 under the caption Experiences. Film and television library properties and television stations owned by the Company are described in Item 1 under the caption Entertainment.
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The Company and its subsidiaries own and lease properties throughout the world. In addition to the properties noted above, the table below provides a brief description of other significant properties and the related business segment.
| Location | Property / Approximate Size | Use | Business Segment | |||||||||||||||||
Burbank, CA & surrounding cities(1) | Land (201 acres) & Buildings (4,733,000 ft2) | Owned Office/Production/Warehouse (includes 240,000 ft2 leased to third-party tenants) | Corporate/Entertainment/Experiences | |||||||||||||||||
Burbank, CA & surrounding cities(1) | Buildings (1,760,000 ft2) | Leased Office/Warehouse | Corporate/Entertainment/Experiences | |||||||||||||||||
| Los Angeles, CA | Land (22 acres) & Buildings (599,000 ft2) | Owned Office/Production/Technical Warehouse | Corporate/Entertainment | |||||||||||||||||
| Los Angeles, CA | Buildings (2,434,000 ft2) | Leased Office/Production/Technical/Theater | Corporate/Entertainment/Experiences | |||||||||||||||||
| New York, NY | Buildings (1,104,000 ft2) | Owned Office | Corporate/Entertainment/Sports | |||||||||||||||||
| New York, NY | Buildings (2,202,000 ft2) | Leased Office/Production/Theater/Warehouse (includes 696,000 ft2 leased to third-party tenants) | Corporate/Entertainment/Experiences/Sports | |||||||||||||||||
| Bristol, CT | Land (117 acres) & Buildings (1,078,000 ft2) | Owned Office/Production/Technical | Sports | |||||||||||||||||
| Bristol, CT | Buildings (273,000 ft2) | Leased Office/Warehouse/Technical | Sports | |||||||||||||||||
| Emeryville, CA | Land (20 acres) & Buildings (430,000 ft2) | Owned Office/Production/Technical | Entertainment | |||||||||||||||||
| Emeryville, CA | Buildings (94,000 ft2) | Leased Office/Storage | Entertainment | |||||||||||||||||
| San Francisco, CA | Buildings (536,000 ft2) | Leased Office/Production/Technical/Theater (includes 47,000 ft2 leased to third-party tenants) | Corporate/Entertainment | |||||||||||||||||
| USA & Canada | Land and Buildings (Multiple sites and sizes) | Owned and Leased Office/ Production/Transmitter/Theaters/Warehouse | Corporate/Entertainment/Experiences | |||||||||||||||||
Europe, Asia, Australia & Latin America | Buildings (Multiple sites and sizes) | Leased Office/Warehouse/Retail/Residential | Entertainment/Experiences | |||||||||||||||||
(1)Surrounding cities include Glendale, CA, North Hollywood, CA and Sun Valley, CA
ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings
As disclosed in Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company is engaged in certain legal matters, and the disclosure set forth in Note 14 relating to certain legal matters is incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
Information About Our Executive Officers
The executive officers of the Company are elected each year at the organizational meeting of the Board of Directors, which follows the annual meeting of the shareholders, and at other Board of Directors meetings, as appropriate. Each of the executive officers has been employed by the Company in the position or positions indicated in the list and pertinent notes below.
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The executive officers of the Company are:
| Name | Age | Title | Executive Officer Since | |||||||||||||||||
| Robert A. Iger | 73 | Chief Executive Officer(1) | 2022 | |||||||||||||||||
Hugh F. Johnston | 63 | Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer(2) | 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
| Horacio E. Gutierrez | 59 | Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer(3) | 2022 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sonia L. Coleman | 52 | Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer(4) | 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
| Kristina K. Schake | 54 | Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer(5) | 2022 | |||||||||||||||||
(1)Mr. Iger was appointed Chief Executive Officer effective November 20, 2022. He also serves as a director on the Board of Directors from November 20, 2022. He previously served as Executive Chairman of the Company from February 2020 through December 2021 and as Chief Executive Officer of the Company from September 2005 to February 2020. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2012 to 2021.
(2)Mr. Johnston was appointed Chief Financial Officer effective December 4, 2023. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, from 2010, and Vice Chairman, from 2015 to November 2023 of PepsiCo, Inc. (“PepsiCo”). His portfolio included a variety of responsibilities, including leadership of PepsiCo’s information technology function from 2015, PepsiCo’s global e-commerce business from 2015 to 2019, and the Quaker Foods North America division from 2014 to 2016. He also held a number of other leadership roles during his PepsiCo career, having served as Executive Vice President, Global Operations from 2009 to 2010, President of Pepsi-Cola North America from 2007 to 2009, Executive Vice President, Operations from 2006 to 2007 and Senior Vice President, Transformation from 2005 to 2006. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods from 2002 through 2005, and as PepsiCo’s Senior Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions in 2002. He joined PepsiCo in 1987 as a Business Planner and held various finance positions until 1999 when he left to join Merck & Co., Inc. as Vice President, Retail, a position which he held until he rejoined PepsiCo in 2002. Mr. Johnston serves on the board of directors of Microsoft Corporation, which he joined in 2017, and on the board of HCA Healthcare, Inc., which he joined in 2021.
(3)Mr. Gutierrez was appointed Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel effective February 1, 2022, appointed Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer effective March 27, 2023 and appointed Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer effective December 21, 2023. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Head of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer for Spotify Technology S.A. (Spotify) from November 2019 to January 2022, where he led a global, multi-disciplinary team of business, corporate communications and public affairs, government relations, licensing, operations and legal professionals responsible for the company’s work in areas including industry relations, content partnerships, public policy, and trust & safety. He was previously Spotify’s General Counsel - Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs from April 2016 to November 2019.
(4)Ms. Coleman was appointed Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer effective April 8, 2023. She was previously Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Disney General Entertainment and ESPN from August 2021. Ms. Coleman served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Disney General Entertainment from April 2017, Vice President, Human Resources for the Company from May 2016 and Vice President, Human Resources, Disney Consumer Products from May 2010.
(5)Ms. Schake was appointed Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer effective June 29, 2022. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President, Global Communications from April 2022. Prior to joining the Company, she was appointed by the President of the United States as Counselor for Strategic Communications to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leading a nationwide public education campaign from March 2021 to December 2021. Prior to that, she served as Global Communications Director for Instagram, a product of Meta Platforms, Inc., from March 2017 to March 2019, where she oversaw the communications teams in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
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PART II
ITEM 5. Market for the Company’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The Company’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DIS”.
See Note 11 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for a summary of the Company’s dividends in fiscal 2024.
As of September 28, 2024, the approximate number of common shareholders of record was 734,000.
The following table provides information about Company purchases of equity securities that are registered by the Company pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act during the quarter ended September 28, 2024:
| Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid per Share(1) | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs(2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
June 30, 2024 – July 31, 2024 | 2,732,000 | $ | 94.70 | 2,732,000 | 374 million | |||||||||||||||||||||
August 1, 2024 – August 31, 2024 | 1,536,500 | 89.18 | 1,536,500 | 372 million | ||||||||||||||||||||||
September 1, 2024 – September 28, 2024 | 742,500 | 91.23 | 742,500 | 372 million | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 5,011,000 | 92.49 | 5,011,000 | 372 million | ||||||||||||||||||||||
(1)Amounts exclude the one percent excise tax on stock repurchases imposed by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
(2)Under a share repurchase program implemented effective February 7, 2024, the Company is authorized to repurchase a total of 400 million shares of its common stock. The repurchase program does not have an expiration date.
ITEM 6. [Reserved]
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ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS
($ in millions, except per share data)
| 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | |||||||||||||||
| Revenues: | |||||||||||||||||
| Services | $ | $ | 3 % | ||||||||||||||
| Products | 2 % | ||||||||||||||||
| Total revenues | 91,361 | 88,898 | 3 % | ||||||||||||||
| Costs and expenses: | |||||||||||||||||
| Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) | ( | ( | 1 % | ||||||||||||||
| Cost of products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) | ( | ( | (2) % | ||||||||||||||
| Selling, general, administrative and other | ( | ( | (3) % | ||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | ( | ( | 7 % | ||||||||||||||
| Total costs and expenses | (79,447) | (79,906) | 1 % | ||||||||||||||
| Restructuring and impairment charges | ( | ( | 8 % | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | ( | nm | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | ( | ( | (4) % | ||||||||||||||
| Equity in the income of investees, net | (26) % | ||||||||||||||||
Income before income taxes | 7,569 | 4,769 | 59 % | ||||||||||||||
Income taxes | ( | ( | (30) % | ||||||||||||||
| Net income | 5,773 | 3,390 | 70 % | ||||||||||||||
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests | ( | ( | 23 % | ||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Disney | $ | 4,972 | $ | 2,354 | >100 % | ||||||||||||
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Disney | $ | $ | >100 % | ||||||||||||||
Organization of Information
Management’s Discussion and Analysis provides a narrative on the Company’s financial performance and condition that should be read in conjunction with the accompanying financial statements. It includes the following sections:
•Consolidated Results and Non-Segment Items
•Business Segment Results
•Corporate and Unallocated Shared Expenses
•Liquidity and Capital Resources
•Developments and Trends
•Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
•DTC Product Descriptions, Key Definitions and Supplemental Information
•Supplemental Guarantor Financial Information
In Item 7, we discuss fiscal 2024 and 2023 results and comparisons of fiscal 2024 results to fiscal 2023 results. Discussions of fiscal 2022 results and comparisons of fiscal 2023 results to fiscal 2022 results can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2023.
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS AND NON-SEGMENT ITEMS
Revenues for fiscal 2024 increased 3%, or $2.5 billion, to $91.4 billion; net income attributable to Disney increased $2.6 billion to income of $5.0 billion compared to $2.4 billion in the prior year; and diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations attributable to Disney increased to $2.72 compared to $1.29 in the prior year. The EPS increase was due to higher operating income at Entertainment.
Revenues
Service revenues for fiscal 2024 increased 3%, or $2.3 billion, to $81.8 billion, due to higher subscription revenue, growth at our parks and experiences businesses, and, to a lesser extent, higher advertising revenue. These increases were partially offset
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by lower theatrical distribution revenue, a decrease in TV/VOD distribution sales and lower affiliate revenue. Service revenues reflected an approximate 1 percentage point decrease due to an unfavorable movement of the U.S. dollar against major currencies including the impact of our hedging program (Foreign Exchange Impact).
Costs and expenses
Cost of services for fiscal 2024 decreased 1%, or $0.6 billion, to $52.5 billion, primarily due to lower non-sports programming and production costs, partially offset by higher sports programming and production costs and the impact of inflation and increased volumes at our parks and experiences businesses. Costs of services reflected an approximate 1 percentage point decrease due to a favorable Foreign Exchange Impact.
Depreciation and amortization decreased 7%, or $0.4 billion, to $5.0 billion due to lower depreciation at our domestic parks and resorts and lower TFCF and Hulu acquisition amortization.
Restructuring and Impairment Charges
| ($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||
Impairments: | |||||||||||
Star India | $ | 1,545 | $ | — | |||||||
Goodwill(1) | 1,287 | 721 | |||||||||
Retail assets | 328 | — | |||||||||
Content(2) | 187 | 2,577 | |||||||||
| Equity investments | 165 | 141 | |||||||||
| Severance | 83 | 357 | |||||||||
Costs to exit our Russia businesses and other | — | 96 | |||||||||
| $ | 3,595 | $ | 3,892 | ||||||||
(1)In the current year, goodwill impairments related to our general entertainment linear networks. In the prior year, goodwill impairments related to our general entertainment and international sports linear networks.
(2)In the current and prior years, content impairments related to strategic changes in our approach to content curation.
Other Income (expense), net
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | |||||||||||||||||
DraftKings gain | $ | — | $ | (100) % | ||||||||||||||||
| Other, net | (65) | (73) | 11 % | |||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | $ | (65) | $ | 96 | nm | |||||||||||||||
In fiscal 2023, the Company recognized a gain of $169 million on its investment in DraftKings, Inc. (DraftKings), which was sold in fiscal 2023.
Interest Expense, net
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | $ | ( | $ | ( | (5) % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest income, investment income and other | 810 | 764 | 6 % | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | $ | (1,260) | $ | (1,209) | (4) % | |||||||||||||||
The increase in interest expense was due to higher average rates, partially offset by lower average debt balances.
The increase in interest income, investment income and other was driven by a larger benefit from pension and postretirement benefit costs, other than service cost, and investments gains in the current year compared to losses in the prior year, partially offset by the impact of lower cash and cash equivalent balances.
Equity in the Income of Investees
Equity in the income of investees decreased $207 million to $575 million in the current year due to lower income from A+E.
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Effective Income Tax Rate
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||
Income before income taxes | $ | 7,569 | $ | 4,769 | |||||||
Income tax expense | 1,796 | 1,379 | |||||||||
Effective income tax rate | 23.7% | 28.9% | |||||||||
The decrease in the effective income tax rate in the current year compared to the prior year was due to the recognition of a $418 million benefit in the current year related to prior years’ tax matters (Income Tax Reserve Adjustments) and a lower foreign effective tax rate. These decreases were partially offset by higher non-tax deductible impairments in the current year compared to the prior year. We recognized $2.9 billion of impairments in the current year and $0.7 billion of impairments in the prior year that are not tax deductible.
Noncontrolling Interests
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | |||||||||||||||||
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests | $ | ( | $ | ( | 23 % | |||||||||||||||
The decrease in net income attributable to noncontrolling interests reflected the comparison to the accretion of NBCU’s interest in Hulu and Major League Baseball’s interest in BAMTech LLC as well as lower results at our National Geographic business. These decreases were partially offset by improved results at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. We had accreted to the redemption value for BAMTech LLC by November 2022 and to the guaranteed floor payment for Hulu by December 2023.
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests is determined on income after royalties and management fees, financing costs and income taxes, as applicable.
Certain Items Impacting Results in the Year
Results for fiscal 2024 were impacted by the following:
•Restructuring and impairment charges of $3,595 million
•TFCF and Hulu acquisition amortization of $1,677 million
•Other expense of $65 million related to a legal ruling
•Income Tax Reserve Adjustments of $418 million
Results for fiscal 2023 were impacted by the following:
•Restructuring and impairment charges of $3,892 million
•TFCF and Hulu acquisition amortization of $1,998 million
•Other income, net of $96 million, primarily due to the DraftKings gain ($169 million), partially offset by a charge related to a legal ruling ($101 million)
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A summary of the impact of these items on EPS is as follows:
($ in millions, except per share data) | Pre-Tax Income (Loss) | Tax Benefit (Expense)(1) | After-Tax Income (Loss) | EPS Favorable (Adverse)(2) | |||||||||||||||||||
Year Ended September 28, 2024: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Restructuring and impairment charges | $ | (3,595) | $ | 293 | $ | (3,302) | $ | (1.78) | |||||||||||||||
TFCF and Hulu acquisition amortization(3) | (1,677) | 391 | (1,286) | (0.68) | |||||||||||||||||||
Other expense | (65) | 11 | (54) | (0.03) | |||||||||||||||||||
Income Tax Reserve Adjustments | — | 418 | 418 | 0.23 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | (5,337) | $ | 1,113 | $ | (4,224) | $ | (2.26) | |||||||||||||||
Year Ended September 30, 2023: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Restructuring and impairment charges(4) | $ | (3,836) | $ | 717 | $ | (3,119) | $ | (1.69) | |||||||||||||||
TFCF and Hulu acquisition amortization(3) | (1,998) | 465 | (1,533) | (0.82) | |||||||||||||||||||
Other income, net | 96 | (13) | 83 | 0.05 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | (5,738) | $ | 1,169 | $ | (4,569) | $ | (2.46) | |||||||||||||||
(1)Tax benefit (expense) is determined using the tax rate applicable to the individual item.
(2)EPS is net of noncontrolling interest, where applicable. Total may not equal the sum of the column due to rounding.
(3)Includes amortization of intangibles related to TFCF equity investees.
(4)Restructuring and impairment charges in the prior year include the impact of a content license agreement termination with A+E, which generated a gain at A+E. The Company’s 50% interest in this gain was $56 million (A+E gain) and is included in Restructuring and impairment charges in this table.
BUSINESS SEGMENT RESULTS
The Company evaluates the performance of its operating segments based on segment revenue and segment operating income.
Below is a discussion of the major revenue and expense categories for our business segments. Costs and expenses for each segment consist of operating expenses, selling, general, administrative and other costs, and depreciation and amortization. Selling, general, administrative and other costs include third-party and internal marketing expenses.
Entertainment
The Entertainment segment generates revenue from film, episodic and other content that is produced and distributed across three significant lines of business:
•Linear Networks, which primarily generates revenue from affiliate fees and advertising
•Direct-to-Consumer, which primarily generates revenue from subscription fees and advertising
•Content Sales/Licensing, which primarily generates revenue from the sale of film and episodic content in the TV/VOD and home entertainment markets, distribution of films in the theatrical market, licensing of our music rights, sales of tickets to stage play performances and licensing of our IP for use in stage plays. Revenues also include an intersegment allocation of revenues from the Experiences segment, which is meant to reflect royalties on consumer products merchandise licensing revenues generated on IP created by the Entertainment segment.
Operating expenses at the Entertainment segment primarily consist of programming and production costs, technology support costs, operating labor and distribution costs. Programming and production costs include the following:
•Amortization of capitalized production costs and licensed programming rights
•Subscriber-based fees for programming the Hulu Live service, including fees paid by Hulu to the Sports segment and other Entertainment segment businesses for the right to air their linear networks on Hulu Live
•Production costs related to live programming (primarily news)
•Participations and residual expenses
•Fees paid to the Sports segment to program ESPN on ABC and certain sports content on Disney+
Amortization of capitalized production costs and licensed programming rights is generally allocated across Entertainment’s businesses based on the estimated relative value of the distribution windows. The initial costs of marketing
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campaigns are generally recognized in the business of initial exploitation. Certain other costs, such as technology, shared services and certain labor related costs, are allocated based on metrics designed to correlate with consumption.
Sports
The Sports segment primarily generates revenue from affiliate fees, advertising, subscription fees, pay-per-view fees and sub-licensing of sports rights. Operating expenses consist primarily of programming and production costs, technology support costs, operating labor and distribution costs. Programming and production costs include amortization of licensed sports rights and production costs related to live sports and other sports-related programming.
Experiences
The Experiences segment primarily generates revenue from the sale of admissions to theme parks, the sale of food, beverage and merchandise at our theme parks and resorts, charges for room nights at hotels, sales of cruise vacations, sales and rentals of vacation club properties, royalties from licensing our IP for use on consumer goods and the sale of branded merchandise. Revenues are also generated from sponsorships and co-branding opportunities, real estate rent and sales, and royalties from Tokyo Disney Resort. Significant expenses include operating labor, infrastructure costs, costs of goods sold and distribution costs, depreciation and other operating expenses. Infrastructure costs include technology support costs, repairs and maintenance, utilities and fuel, property taxes, retail occupancy costs, insurance and transportation. Other operating expenses include costs for such items as supplies, commissions and entertainment offerings.
Eliminations
The following transactions are recognized in segment revenues and eliminated in total Company revenue:
•Fees paid by Hulu to ESPN and the Entertainment linear networks business for the right to air their networks on Hulu Live
•Fees paid by ABC Network and Disney+ to ESPN to program ESPN on ABC and certain sports content on Disney+, respectively
BUSINESS SEGMENT RESULTS - 2024 vs. 2023
The following table presents revenues from our operating segments:
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | ||||||||||||||
Entertainment | $ | 41,186 | $ | 40,635 | 1 % | ||||||||||||
Sports | 17,619 | 17,111 | 3 % | ||||||||||||||
Experiences | 34,151 | 32,549 | 5 % | ||||||||||||||
Eliminations | (1,595) | (1,397) | (14) % | ||||||||||||||
Revenues | $ | 91,361 | $ | 88,898 | 3 % | ||||||||||||
The following table presents income from our operating segments and other components of income from continuing operations before income taxes:
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | ||||||||||||||
Entertainment operating income | $ | 3,923 | $ | 1,444 | >100 % | ||||||||||||
Sports operating income | 2,406 | 2,465 | (2) % | ||||||||||||||
Experiences operating income | 9,272 | 8,954 | 4 % | ||||||||||||||
| Corporate and unallocated shared expenses | ( | ( | (25) % | ||||||||||||||
Restructuring and impairment charges(1) | ( | ( | 6 % | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | ( | nm | |||||||||||||||
Interest expense, net | ( | ( | (4) % | ||||||||||||||
| TFCF and Hulu acquisition amortization | ( | ( | 16 % | ||||||||||||||
| Income from continuing operations before income taxes | $ | 7,569 | $ | 4,769 | 59 % | ||||||||||||
(1) Restructuring and impairment charges in the prior year include the A+E gain.
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Entertainment
Revenue and operating results for the Entertainment segment are as follows:
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | ||||||||||||||
| Revenues: | |||||||||||||||||
Linear Networks | $ | 10,692 | $ | 11,701 | (9) % | ||||||||||||
| Direct-to-Consumer | 22,776 | 19,886 | 15 % | ||||||||||||||
| Content Sales/Licensing and Other | 7,718 | 9,048 | (15) % | ||||||||||||||
| $ | 41,186 | $ | 40,635 | 1 % | |||||||||||||
| Segment operating income (loss): | |||||||||||||||||
Linear Networks | $ | 3,452 | $ | 4,119 | (16) % | ||||||||||||
| Direct-to-Consumer | 143 | (2,496) | nm | ||||||||||||||
| Content Sales/Licensing and Other | 328 | (179) | nm | ||||||||||||||
| $ | 3,923 | $ | 1,444 | >100 % | |||||||||||||
Revenues
The increase in Entertainment revenues was due to subscription revenue growth, partially offset by decreases in theatrical distribution, affiliate and TV/VOD distribution revenues.
Operating income
The increase in Entertainment operating income was due to improved results at Direct-to-Consumer and, to a lesser extent, Content Sales/Licensing and Other, partially offset by a decrease at Linear Networks.
Linear Networks
Operating results for Linear Networks are as follows:
($ in millions) | 2024 | 2023 | % Change Better (Worse) | ||||||||||||||
| Revenues | |||||||||||||||||
| Affiliate fees | $ | 6,872 | $ | 7,369 | (7) % | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 3,676 | 4,159 | (12) % | ||||||||||||||
| Other | 144 | 173 | (17) % | ||||||||||||||
| Total revenues | 10,692 | 11,701 | (9) % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | (5,083) | (5,577) | 9 % | ||||||||||||||
| Selling, general, administrative and other | (2,644) | ||||||||||||||||