What We Learned from Disney’s Annual Report

Disney released their annual report right before the holiday weekend. In it, we learned somethings about the state of The Walt Disney Company:

  • Disney now employees 201,000 individuals compared to 199,000 last year.
  • Disney Channel is now available in 164 countries, up from 162 countries last year.
  • The number of Disney stores in North America decreased from 221 to 214
  • After the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney expects to have $40 billion in debt, up from $20.9, and interest expenses of $2 billion per year.
  • Disney has 854,000 shareholders, down from 871,300 in 2017
  • Disney gained $560 million in 2018 for selling ABC’s New York headquarters
  • Disney received $38 million from insurance companies connected to their $177 million settlement of the “pink slime” lawsuit
  • Disney effective tax rate decreased from 32.1% in 2017 to 11.3% in 2018.
  • Disney took a charge of $157 million as their investment in Vice is not considered worth as much as it had been.
  • Domestic hotel occupancy was flat at domestic hotels at 88% while per guest room spending was $345 from $317 in 2017.
  • Disney took a charge of $53 million due to an impairment in their investment at Villages Nature in Paris.
  • Disney Theatrical saw a 3% revenue increase thanks to new productions such as Frozen
  • Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media took a charge of $17 million due to severance costs
  • Disney expects its capital expenditures to be up $1 billion to $5.5 billion in 2019
  • The expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland is expected to cost $1.4 billion