The main reason for the fall was a significant decrease in Disney+’s Hotstar subscribers from Southeast Asia and India, which now stands at 57.5 million subscribers, a QoQ decline of 3.8 million subscribers. Even the number of domestic subscriber gains within the US - 200,000 was not able to steady the ship. Needless to say - Hulu and ESPN+ are growing - 800,000 and 600,000 subscribers (Q4 2022), respectively. The plan to surpass Netflix’s subscriber total in 2024 doesn’t now seem likely to happen.

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Bob Iger revealed that the company is planning a significant restructuring, including 7,000 layoffs. New hires have already been frozen in November 2022. This is part of a worldwide trend with big tech companies firing people on a regular basis. Although for Disney the layoffs represent only 3% of the global workforce, the move is just the start of Iger’s $5.5 billion savings plan. 

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There are some rumors that Disney may start selling its licensing rights to competitors in order to compensate for losses incurred by the platform. This could be a game changer for the industry, as Disney is well-known for keeping its content exclusively on its own platforms. In my opinion, with so much content, the streaming giant is able to develop extraordinary solutions - as long as the balance sheet benefits. 

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The second possible solution that is being whispered within the House of Mouse is the possible sale of its 67 per cent stake in Hulu. The agreement with Comcast, which owns the other 33 per cent in Hulu,  allows this sale to go ahead as early as January 2024. If Disney did succeed in selling its stake, it would generate almost twice the amount Iger wants to save through downsizing and cutting jobs. However, the prospect of any sale is likely to set off even more infighting amongst investors.