World War II veteran Charles Cram, who witnessed the flag raising at Iwo Jima, is seen at Disneyland’s Flag Retreat as family watches. (Disney Experiences)
New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro unveiled a new strategy to grow the entertainment giant as the company announced its quarterly results, including a focus on investing in content and technology.
D’Amaro, who succeeded former Disney CEO Bob Iger in mid-March, said in a letter to shareholders that Disney’s long-term strategy will revolve around three pillars that include investing in intellectual property and creativity, reaching and engaging more consumers around the world, and using advanced technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) enabling storytelling and increasing monetization.
Disney has been investing heavily in streaming, as well as content, technology and marketing for its platforms and programs. D’Amaro said AI and other technologies will be used to increase efficiency across the company.
“We view advanced technology, including AI, as a meaningful long-term opportunity. We see opportunities for AI to contribute to five areas of our business: content creation and production, monetization, employee productivity, visitor and consumer experience and business operations,” wrote D’Amaro.
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Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro outlined the entertainment giant’s growth strategy in a letter to shareholders. (Aurore Marechal/Getty Images)
“At the same time, we are committed to using AI in a way that keeps human intelligence at the center of everything we do and respect creators and the value of our intellectual property,” he explained, noting that the company will not continue its planned investment in OpenAI after closing its Sora platform. D’Amaro added that Disney continues to explore opportunities to work with OpenAI and other firms.
D’Amaro noted that revenue growth in its subscriptions video on demand The segment, which includes streaming platforms, reached double digits for the first time in the latest quarter. He said earnings were driven by a reversal of last year’s rates and volume growth through international deals, and Disney now aims for at least 10% growth for the full year.
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| A ticker | Security | Finally | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | This company WALT DISNEY CO. | 107.45 | +6.94 |
+ 6.90% |
“No single initiative will fully improve our streaming business on its own. Rather, we believe the combined benefits of many incremental improvements over time will increase engagement and improve retention,” D’Amaro wrote.
Disney launched Verts on Disney+ in March to improve availability and drive more interactions among platform users, D’Amaro said it’s an ongoing effort that could lead to differences in results between quarters but the company is “encouraged by the momentum we’re seeing.”
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Disney continues to invest in streaming platforms. (Photos by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC)
He also added that ESPN has begun to monetize its direct-to-consumer offerings, and that sports network is considered “an important opportunity over time as we expand both the content offering and the consumer proposition of the ESPN Unlimited program.”
The shareholder letter cited “Zootopia 2” as an example of intellectual property which creates value in all distribution platforms.
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D’Amaro said the film has generated $1.9 billion at the global box office, and the franchise has surpassed 1 billion hours streamed on Disney+ and is driving partnerships theme parkscruise ships and sales.
