Disney said it would donate $100,000 to the Red Cross to assist with the earthquake relief in Haiti.
Robert A Iger, CEO of Disney, received a $2 million salary and a $9.3 million bonus for fiscal 2009, a 28% drop fromt he previous year. The firm's 2009 profit dropped 25 percent to $3.3 billion.
Barclays Capital upgraded Disney to a price target of 36.
Sales at Disney's retail stores are reporting double-digit improvements in sales over the previous year as of noon. Roughly 130 out of Disney's 205 stores opened at midnight.
British broadcaster ITV paid 22.25 pounds to acquire the 25% of GMTV that it doesn't already own. GMTV is a breakfast TV franchise operator.
Disney's net income rose 18% to $895 million, fed by strong growth at ESPN and ABC Family TV channels.
Dick Cook, the head of Disney's studio unit, stepped down after 39 years at the company. Cook said he had been contemplating his decision "for a while now." The company did not announce who would succeed Cook.
Oscar-winning filmmaker del Toro is joining forces with Disney to create a new brand, "Disney Double Dare You," which will produce scary animated films.
The deal will give Disney rights to 5000 of comic book characters such as X-Men and Spider Man.
A Disney stunt performer died after suffering an injury in practice for the Indiana Jones stunt show. This follows the deaths of a sword performer and monorail driver this summer.
Jetix Italy announced a deal with the Walt Disney Company to take ownership of the channels GXT and K2
Disney joins NBC universal (GE), News Corporation and Providence Equity Partners as an equity owner of Hulu.
Hong Kong is close to reaching an agreement with Disney over expanding the HK Disneyland, which is 54% owned by the government. Disney will finance the expansion project while the government will conver loans into equity to keep a controlling stake.
JP Morgan said Disney had limited near-term upside potential, but is "very well-positioned long term." Second quarter EPS estimates were downgraded to 40 cents fro 42 cents.
As part of an early announced reorganization, Disney announced it had cut 1900 theme park employees, or 11% of the division's workforce. 1200 employees were laid off and 50 executives accepted a voluntary buyout offer.
Disney and Hulu resumed 'serious' talks into offering ABC video programming on the online website Hulu.com owned by NBC Universal and News Corp
Disney halted all creative and design work on the expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland and laid off more than 30 employees. The Hong Kong government, which holds a 57% stake in HK Disneyland, told the company there is no timetable for the expansion of the park.
S&P gave an A rating to Disney's proposed $500 million global notes due in 2019, citing premier creative franchises, extensive media distribution, conservative capital structure, and good discretionary cash flow. Disney has an A credit rating and a negative outlook.
Disney revenue dropped from $10.5 billion to $9.6 billion. Earnings per share for Q1 were 45 cents compared with 63 cents last year.
Disney bought Kerpoof, a kids art and drawing website, for an undisclosed amount. Kerpoof will be integrated into disney.com. The website's 3D drawing technologies have become popular among elementary school teachers.
Disney is making a marked push into the 6 to 14 year old boy business with the launch of Disney XD, which will include a cable channel and a website.
Disney reported first quarter net income fell 32%, below analysts' expectations. Falling DVD sales, theme park attendance contributed to the decrease in net income.
ABC will lay off 200 workers and freeze another 200 vacant jobs, amounting to an overall 5% job cut. "After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we're now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas," said Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television.
Disney announced it would combine its ABC network programming and studio production units to focus creative efforts on shows for its own network. The move is also expected to cut costs. At the same time, the company is offering 600 buyouts to theme park executives.
The global economic downturn hit Walt Disney this quarter as the company reported earnings of $760 million, or 40 cents per share, down from $877 million, or 44 cents per share a year ago. Disney said the advertising climate had softened the performance of its cable and broadcast networks and that its theme parks suffered from higher labor and fuel costs.
The Los Angeles Times reported Disney executives have been meeting this week to prepare cost saving meansures that may include company wide job cuts. Company executives said no decisions had been made about layoffs yet.
On August 1, 2008 The Walt Disney Company released its third quarter earnings results. The company's revenues for the quarter were $9.24 billion, a 2% increase fromt he same period of 2007. While earnings beat anaylysts' expectations, shares slipped as investors noted Disney may be more negatively affected by the weak economy than originally expected.
On May 6, 2008 Disney released its second quarter earnings. The company's profits increased 22%, beating analyst expectations. Profits were driven by strong results in media networks, entertainment and the parks and resorts business segments.
Disney released its first quarter earnings results on February 6, 2008. The company's results beat analysts' expectations with increased revenues from cable sales and theme park sales. Disney announced earnings per share of $0.63.
On November 8, 2007, Disney released its fourth quarter earnings. While the company reported 12% gains in profits, shares slipped in following days.
For the third quarter of its fiscal year 2007, Disney reported a 4.7% increase in profit (57 cents per share as opposed to the expected 53 cents), due largely to strong performance in television programming and revenues from its theme parks. The stock rose 2.5% in Wednesday's regular session.
Disney's stock rose 2.6% on June 15, 2007, when an analyst at SMH Capital upgraded the company to "buy" with a 12-month target price of $44.
In a deal with a labor union representing around one-third of all Disney employees, the company agreed to a new contract through October of 2010. Provisions in the deal include pay raises (in the 4%-5% range, on average) and enhanced pension plans. Disney's stock fell on this news.
Stock moves from 35.63 to 35.97 in a day on news that Disney debuted a social networking site for children under 14 years of age.
