Bob Iger

Source: Thomas Hawk (licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Bob Iger

The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger has said he is “personally committed” to working towards a resolution of the US actors and writers strikes. 

Speaking to analysts during a conference call on the company’s third quarter results, Iger said he has “deep respect and admiration” for actors, writers and others in the creative community and a “fervent hope” that the strikes are settled quickly. 

The remarks came four weeks after Iger suggested in a TV interview that the writers’ and actors’ expectations are “just not realistic,” a remark that drew angry reactions on Hollywood picket lines. 

Disney’s results for the quarter ending July 1 were mixed, with the company reporting revenues of $22.33bn, compared to $21.5bn for the third quarter of 2022, and a net loss from continuing operations of $460m, compared to income of $1.4bn the previous year. 

In the company’s direct-to-consumer segment, streaming service Disney+ ended the quarter with 105.7m subscribers worldwide, slightly up from the 104.9m reported at the end of the second quarter. The subscriber total for North America dropped slightly to 46m, but the international tally (excluding Disney+ Hotstar) was up from 58.6m to 59.7m. 

Iger revealed that the ad-supported version of Disney+, launched at the end of 2022, had counted 3.3m sign-ups by the end of the third quarter. 

He also announced that the ad-supported version of the service will become available in select European markets – the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark – as well as Canada beginning on November 1. 

Disney’s direct-to-consumer segment saw revenues increase to $5.52bn for the third quarter (9% up from the previous year) and operating loss decline from $1.06bn to $512m. 

In its studio division, Iger said Disney is currently “focused on improving the quality of our films, and on better economics. Not just reducing the number of titles we release but also the cost per title.” 

After a dominant run at the box office over recent years, Disney has this year seen expensive projects like Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny and Elemental achieving relatively modest grosses. 

“The performance of some of our recent films has definitely been disappointing and we don’t take that lightly,” Iger said on the results call. “And as you’d expect, we’re very focused on improving the quality and the performance of the films that we’ve got coming up. It’s something that I’m working closely with the studio on. I’m personally committed to spending more time and attention on that as well.”

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