Disney stock jumped as much as 10% on Wednesday, adding more than $21 billion to the entertainment giant's market capitalization.- Investors celebrated the news that
Disney Plus has attracted more than 60 million subscribers in its first nine months. - However, Disney's revenue plunged 42% last quarter as pandemic-related closures of
theme parks , stores, and cinemas hammered its business. - Lower revenues and $5 billion in restructuring and impairment charges translated into a $4.5 billion net loss last quarter.
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Disney stock soared as much as 10% on Wednesday as investors cheered strong growth at Disney Plus last quarter, boosting the entertainment giant's market cap by about $21 billion to $234 billion.
The company's revenue slumped 42% to below $12 billion last quarter as sales plummeted 85% in the parks, experiences, and products division and 55% in the studio business.
Those sharp declines reflected prolonged closures of theme parks, stores, and cinemas to combat the spread of the virus.
Disney's lower revenue, combined with $5 billion in restructuring and impairment charges, fueled a net loss from continuing operations of $4.5 billion — a sharp swing from $1.6 billion in net income in the same period last year.
However, the company's Disney Plus streaming service continued to serve as a partial hedge against the pandemic.
It has attracted more than 60 million paying subscribers since launching nine months ago — close to a third of Netflix's 193 million users at the end of June — as people continue to spend more time at home and many entertainment venues remain closed.
The platform is likely benefiting from its increasingly varied range of content. A live-theater recording of "Hamilton" and Beyonce's visual album "Black is King" have been added in recent weeks, and "Mulan" is set to debut on the service instead of in cinemas at an additional cost of $29.99 to subscribers.
Here's a chart showing Disney's stock-price gain on Wednesday: