Disney+ keeps growing fast. But streaming loses $1.5 billion on net profits
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In the race to become the biggest streaming subscription service, Disney+ is not just competing with Netflix and Amazon on the strength of its own library of original programming, but against its direct rival, Apple TV+. The first Disney+ streaming service has lost $1.5 billion in the previous quarter, according to regulatory filings.
Disney’s streaming platform has lost $1.5 billion in the past three months, including $200 million that has been wiped out in the past two quarters of losses, according to regulatory filings and other reports.
Analyst estimates by Gartner suggest Disney has lost $1.5 billion with Disney+, based on a projected $4 billion cost to Disney (most of Disney’s net income was due to interest on the debt on a $40 billion, 30-year, $70 per share debt deal Disney closed in 2013), and $2 billion on content costs. This assumes a $200 million loss from Disney related to Apple TV+, and a $700 million loss from Netflix.
Netflix has lost $650 million with its own service, including $100 million from content costs, but has lost only $200 million with Disney+, according to estimates by Credit Suisse.
Disney+’s revenue has soared from $1.1 billion in the final two months of 2018 to $5.2 billion today. Disney is counting the streaming service as part of its $71 billion entertainment business.
Disney+ was launched just a month ago as a $5 monthly subscription service. It didn’t have much to show for its first 12 months. Disney+ didn’t have original series from anyone other than Disney, including Marvel, but it did have a Star Wars series and original Star Wars movies under license from the Walt Disney Studios.
Disney’s streaming platform has now lost $1.5 billion in the past three months, including $200 million that has been wiped out in the past two quarters of losses, according to regulatory filings. This assumes a $200 million loss from Disney related to Apple TV+, and a $700 million loss from Netflix.