Disney+ Loses 1.3 Million Subscribers After Price Hike
By Movieguide® Contributor
Disney took another hit after the global giant suffered a string of struggles last year.
In the last four months of 2023, Disney+ lost 1.3 million “core” subscribers.
“According to the information in the [2024 Q1 earnings] call, Disney+ went from 112.6 million subscribers in September 2023 down to 111.3 million in December 2023,” Early Game wrote. “This comes after Disney introduced new subscription prices, with the ad-free tier increasing its price from $10.99/month to $13.99/month in October 2023.”
The Q1 report notes that the end of its global summer promotion also impacted the dip in subscribers. And Disney didn’t earn more than it did in the prior year’s quarter.
1.3 million is only a fraction of the number of subscribers it lost earlier in 2023. In last year’s second quarter, 12.5 million Indian subscribers dropped their subscriptions as Disney shifted away from “low-margin” customers, Variety reported.
“Disney reports its earnings results amid an ongoing proxy fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz, chairman of Trian Fund Management,” another Variety article reported.
“While both Trian and rival firm Blackwells Capital have launched dueling proxy fights in an attempt to push Disney to make changes to its corporate governance and long-term strategy,” the report continued, “it’s very unlikely either will result in pushing Disney to add new board members in its shareholders vote at the company’s April 3 annual meeting.”
Movieguide® reported on the proxy fight last November:
“Disney’s stock has hit multiyear lows, and activist investor Nelson Peltz is pushing for multiple board seats at the company. The company’s parks business is slowing, its linear TV division is declining, and its streaming business is not yet profitable,” Yahoo Finance reported.
CNBC reported, “Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has oversight of about $2.5 billion of Disney shares and will be paying close attention to Disney’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report after the bell Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The majority of the shares controlled by Trian belong to Ike Perlmutter, the former boss of Marvel Entertainment and a Peltz ally who has clashed with Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger in the past.”
Per CNBC, Peltz tried to get on the board in February, but Iger snubbed him. If Peltz succeeds in his next attempt, Trian Fund will likely gun for Iger’s removal, who already renewed his contract with Disney five times to date.
Right now, Disney is looking to buy a stake in Epic Games. Per Early Game, the company is hopeful that its collaboration will start with the creation of a virtual Disney theme park and a Taylor Swift concert in the Fortnite video game—ambitious plans.
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