*By Chloe Aiello*
Shares of Walt Disney jumped in after-hours trading after the entertainment giant reported record earnings and revenue for its latest fiscal year.
For the quarter ending Sept. 29, Disney ($DIS) reported earnings per share of $1.48 on revenue of $14.31 billion, beating the $1.34 earnings per share on $13.73 billion in revenue analysts were expecting.
Revenue from its Parks and Resorts division rose 9 percent from a year ago to $5.1 billion. Its studio entertainment revenue grew 50 percent to $2.15 billion, helped by strong showings from films like "Incredibles 2," "Ant-Man and the Wasp."
Revenue from its all-important media networks rose 9 percent to nearly $6 billion beating Street expectations, though growth at cable networks like ESPN was up just 5 percent.
The results come as Disney tests the waters for over-the-top offerings to combat cord-cutters turning away from cable. The company launched its ESPN+ streaming option in April and, on its conference call, said the service now has over a million users. It also plans to launch its broader Disney+ service in the U.S. late next year.
Disney hopes its recent purchase of 21st Century Fox ($FOXA) will help supplement its offerings, both for its traditional and OTT offerings. The $71 billion deal got approval from EU regulators this week, as long as Disney sells some of its European TV assets.
“We remain focused on the successful completion and integration of our 21st Century Fox acquisition and the further development of our direct-to-consumer business, including the highly anticipated launch of our Disney-branded streaming service late next year," Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
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It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
