Walt Disney shares fall 7% following profit decline

The Walt Disney Co. stocks fell more than 7% in pre-market Wednesday trading. That came right after the company announced lower earnings for the fourth quarter of 2022. 

Disney said earnings per share would be $0.30, assuming the company's revenue of $20.15 billion. The indicators fall short of analysts' average projections of $0.59 per share if earnings hit $21.38 billion. Meanwhile, there is an 8.7% year-over-year increase in corporate revenues due to a 36% rise in theme park profits. 

Disney's media and entertainment business is down almost 3% to $12.73 billion, being far below the average estimate of $13.81 billion. 

Bob Chapek, Walt Disney's CEO, believes the current year can be considered a strong one. The sales are at record highs, with a 57 million subscriber surge. Thus, a total of 235 million customers joined Disney.

The entertainment giant showed a strong performance in subscription services for 2022. It rose 14.6 million, including 12.1 million Disney+ users. Combined Disney+ subscribers hit 164.2 million by the end of the quarter. That figure was 39% higher than last year's levels, breaking analysts' projections of 162.5 million. 

The ESPN+ customer base has also seen a 42% year-over-year increase, reaching 24.3 million. Hulu's total number of subscribers now stands at 47.2 million, up 7.8% from last year.