Overall, diluted earnings per share came in at 93 cents, meeting the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. The company’s revenue reached $21.82 billion, slightly above analyst forecasts of $21.79 billion.
The company’s theme parks continued to receive visitors, with growth andn Shanghai Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland Resorthelping to increase the unit’s operating income 23% over the prior year to $2.2 billion.
“We are pleased with our accomplishments this quarter, including improved financial results for our streaming business, which reflect the strategic changes we have been making across the company to realign disney for sustained growth and success,” Chief Executive Bob Iger said in a statement.
The total number of subscribers to the flagship Disney+ service fell by four million compared to the previous quarter, to 157.8 million.
Most of the casualties occurred in the Disney + Hotstar offer in India, after losing the rights to broadcast the cricket matches of the Indian Premier League. Disney also lost 300,000 customers in the United States and Canada, where it raised prices last December.
Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy had warned in February that the company was expecting “modestly higher” write-offs due to higher prices.
Wall Street has been pressuring media companies to profit from the billions of dollars they have invested in streaming in recent years to compete with Netflix.
Iger, who came out of retirement in November to meet the company’s challenges, announced a revamp in February that included a promise to eliminate $5.5 billion in costs, in part by cutting 7,000 jobs.
As Disney tries to develop streaming, its traditional television business is facing obstacles. The networks’ operating income fell 35% from a year earlier to $1.8 billion, in part due to increased sports programming and production costs related to the NFL and college football playoffs on ESPN, and lower advertising revenue on ABC and on the television networks it owns.