Associated Press Business Writer Michelle Chapman
Disney’s profits and revenues rose in the third quarter. The entertainment company has added subscribers to its streaming service and continues to check its strength at theme parks across the country.
It also raised its full-year adjusted revenue forecast on Wednesday.
Walt Disney Co. won $52.6 billion, or $2.92 per share, for the three months ended June 28th. It won $2.62 billion the previous year, or $1.43 per share.
Excluding certain items, revenue was $1.61 per share. This easily beat the $1.46 per share analyst that Zacks Investment Research was investigating.
Burbank, California totaled $23.65 billion, slightly below Wall Street’s $23.6 billion estimate.
Last night, the NFL announced that it had signed a non-binding agreement with Disney-owned ESPN. Under this condition, ESPN acquires the right to distribute NFL networks, NFL fantasy, and red zone channels to cable and satellite operators, and the league acquires a 10% stake in ESPN.
Revenues for Disney Entertainment, which includes the company’s film studios and streaming services, rose 1%, while revenues for Park, the experience division, rose 8%.
Disney’s consumer businesses, including Disney+ and Hulu, have quarterly operating profit of $346 million compared to a loss of $19 million the previous year. Revenues rose 6%.
Disney+ Streaming Service has not been changed nationally to paid subscribers, including the US and Canada. Internationally, there is a 2% increase, with Disney+Hotstar being ruled out.
Disney+’s total pay subscribers increased from 126 million in the second quarter to 128 million subscribers.
Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions totaled 183 million, up 2.6 million from the second quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Disney said it expects total Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions to increase by over 10 million compared to the third quarter, with the majority of the increase from Hulu due to the expansion of charter contracts being prepared by CEO Bob Iger and Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston.
The company expects a slight increase in Disney+ subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Iger and Johnston also said they would stop reporting the number of paid subscribers for Disney, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services. The company will halt reporting Disney+ and Hulu metrics starting in the first quarter of 2026, and will no longer report ESPN+ figures from the fourth quarter of 2025.
The Experience division, which includes Disney’s six global theme parks, cruise lines, products and video games licenses, reported operating profits increased by 13% to $2.52 billion. Operating profit rose 22% in domestic parks. Operating profit fell by 3% due to international parks and experience.
Disney announced in May that it will build its seventh theme park in Abu Dhabi.
“More expansions are ongoing around the world with our parks and experiences than any other time in our history,” Iger said in a statement. “We’re not finished building because we have ambitious plans to stay ahead of us for all of our business. We’re excited about Disney’s future.”
Disney expects adjusted revenue of $5.85 per share for 2025. Previously, it was forecast to be $5.75 per share. Analysts surveyed by Factset expect annual revenues of $5.80 per share.
Disney continues to attract levers and manages all the different components of its business well, but has also worked on searching for successors to Igar, the face of Disney for most of the past 20 years.
Disney established the Succession Planning Committee in 2023, but the search began in earnest last year when the company enlisted James Gorman, executive chairman of Morgan Stanley, to lead the effort.
Disney has some time as Iger agreed to an extension of the contract that would keep him in the company until the end of 2026.
Disney is looking at internal and external candidates. It is widely believed that the inside candidates include Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of Disney-owned ESPN, Josh Damaro of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Alan Bergman, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, and Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment.
Original issue: August 6, 2025 9am EDT
