Disney to boost prices for ad-free Disney+ and Hulu services and vows crackdown on password sharing
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger vowed to make its streaming services profitable via a planned October price hike on its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans and a crackdown on password sharing expected to extend through next year.
Disney furloughs employees โwhose jobs arenโt necessary at this timeโ
Facing a complete standstill across its entertainment empire due to the coronavirus crisis, the Walt Disney Company notified its employees that it would furlough employees "whose jobs aren't necessary at this time" starting on April 19th. Its theme parks around the world have shuttered, its cruise line is suspended and many of its biggest films of the year have been delayed. The impact is hitting Disney's theme park employees especially hard. Among those impacted would be the Disney Parks' storied 'Imagineers' - the designers of the parks, rides and hotels. After Disney shuttered Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California, it committed to paying employees through April 18th.
Disney had a blockbuster 2019. Hereโs what it has on deck for 2020
The Walt Disney Company is going to have a hard time living up to its record-breaking 2019. First of all, there are no Star Wars or Avengers films on the docket in 2020. In July, it set the record for the highest-grossing studio in box office history. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the parks division's biggest expansion ever, opened to incredible fanfare. What ensued was a global box office windfall that surpassed the $10 billion mark in 2019, shattering Disney's 2016 record of $7.6 billion.