Walt Disney Company has reported a fall of 32 per cent in net income at USD 845 million in the quarter ended December 2008.
With the global downturn impacting several of its businesses, diversified media and entertainment firm Walt Disney Company has reported a fall of 32 per cent in net income at USD 845 million in the quarter ended December 2008.
The company had a net income of USD 1.25 billion in the December quarter of the previous fiscal, Walt Disney said in a statement.
Revenue of the firm had declined to USD 9.6 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2008-09 (October-December) from USD 10.45 billion in the year-ago period.
The company's Media Network business witnessed a 29 per cent drop in operating income to USD 655 million and revenues declined five per cent to USD 3.9 billion, due to weaker advertising sales at ESPN and lower DVD sales at the Disney Channels.
Commenting on the results Disney president and chief executive officer Robert A Iger said, "We faced a challenging first quarter with many of our businesses impacted to various degrees by the economic downturn.
"We are forcefully confronting current circumstance while investing in the great creativity, brands and assets that are Disneys strengths and keys to its long-term success," Iger said.
The decrease in ESPN's net income was primarily due to lower advertising revenues and higher programming and administrative costs, partially offset by higher affiliate revenue, the statement added.
Besides, revenue from the park and resort fell four per cent to USD 2.7 billion and segment operating income plunged 24 per cent to USD 382 million.
"Lower operating income was due to decreases at the domestic operations and at Disneyland Resort Paris," the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Interactive Media segment reported 13 per cent jump in revenues for the quarter to USD 313 million, but the segment operating income tumbled USD 58 million against a loss of USD 45 million in the year-ago period.
"Lower segment operating income was primarily due to a decline at Disney Interactive Studios as higher sales volume was more than offset by an increase in unit cost of sales and higher marketing expenses in the current quarter," it added.
Operating income at Broadcasting decreased USD 205 million to USD 138 million for the quarter primarily due to lower advertising revenue at the ABC Television, the statement added.
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