Disney announces Abu Dhabi theme park as Bob Iger hails content slate

A Thousand Blows 2

Disney’s A Thousand Blows

Disney stock jumped 10% on Wednesday as the company reported strong second quarter earnings and said a new theme park in Abu Dhabi was on the way. Chief exec Bob Iger did not volunteer comments and was not asked about tariffs in light of US president Donald Trump’s flip-flop remarks this week.

The media giant beat Wall Street estimates as overall revenues climbed 7% year-on-year to $23.6bn and operating income increased by 15% to $4.4bn. Adjusted earnings per share increased by 20% to $1.41 after net income swung from a $20m loss in the year-ago period to $3.3bn.

In a prepared statement, Iger and his senior vice-president and finance chief Hugh Johnston said: “We are monitoring macroeconomic developments for potential impacts to our businesses and recognise that uncertainty remains regarding the operating environment for the balance of the fiscal year.”

Streaming growth

An additional 1.4m subscribers in the fiscal quarter ended 29 March, 2025, pushed the Disney+ count to 126m in a positive swing after Disney shed 700,000 members in the last quarter. Including 54.7 Hulu members (50.3m from SVoD only, and 4.4m from Live TV and SVoD), there are 180.7m Disney+ and Hulu subscribers, marking an increase of 2.5m over the first quarter.

Streaming revenues climbed 8% to $6.1bn, reflecting subscriber growth and price hikes, and operating income saw a huge increase from $47m to $336m. The 2024 $1bn global hit Moana 2 has delivered Walt Disney Animation Studios’ biggest premiere on Disney+ since Encanto, earning more than 139m hours streamed since 12 March. Mufasa: The Lion King also debuted on the platform in Q2.

Iger said the three planks of the streaming policy were to keep Disney+ and Hulu together and bundle the ESPN tile; improve technological advances such as the recent introduction of paid sharing to crack down on password sharing; and invest in content, with local language a priority.

On this last point, Disney sees the UK, South Korea, Japan and Mexico as growth areas. In 2024, nine of the top 15 international original titles on Disney+ were from South Korea. In Q2 Gannibal was the most-viewed premiere and the fastest title to reach one million hours viewed on Disney+ in Japan.

The strategy is to focus on a slate of original content and third-party licensing from local and global partners. How any tariffs might impact licensing activity remains to be seen.

Theme park

The theme park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi will be Disney’s seventh since Disneyland opened in 1955. The new park will be built by Disney’s regional partner Miral, the capital investor on the project who will operate the park for Disney. Iger said the new venture will be a Disney experience with a “distinctly Emirati” flavour, and said Disney will collect royalties. No target opening date was announced.

Revenue at the Experiences segment increased by 6% to $8.9bn for the quarter, and operating income climbed 9% to $2.5bn. Linear networks revenue fell 13% to $2.4bn, and operating income increased by 2% to $769m.

Looking ahead, executives expect a “modest increase” in Disney+ subscribers in Q3. In terms of fiscal year 2025, Disney forecasts $17bn in cash provided by operations (a $2bn increase over previous guidance due to tax payment deferrals) and double-digit percentage growth in operating income in the Entertainment segment.