Disney Shares Netflix’s Pain on Fickle User Sign-Ups

Disney Shares Netflix’s Pain on Fickle User Sign-Ups

Walt Disney Co. keeps trying to tell investors that its growth in streaming-TV subscribers realistically isn’t going to be a perpetual straight shot upward but more like a zig-zagging line quarter to quarter. They won’t listen. Netflix Inc. knows how Disney feels. 

Shares of Disney dipped Tuesday after Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek said that various challenges — not least the continuing Covid-19 crisis — will lead to fewer new Disney+ users than analysts have been expecting. “The quarter-to-quarter business is not linear,” Chapek said, speaking at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. virtual conference. “We’re very bullish and confident about our long-term subscriber growth, but we’re going to see a little bit more noise than I think maybe the Street expects.” But Disney isn’t known for noise. Its traditional lines of business — the theme parks, consumer products, film studios and television networks — were all fairly predictable profit centers before Covid. As investors are learning, the streaming wars are a different ball game. The stock fell as much as 5.4%, the most on an intraday basis since May, before ending the day down 4%.