Disney eyes sports betting to fuel its entertainment biz as streaming slows

Baby Yoda sad... Investors weren’t chanting “Hakuna Matata” after Disney's quarterly earnings. Mickey's biz hasn't quite rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Last quarter, sales jumped to $18.5B (compared to $19.1B for the same quarter back in 2019). Worse, Disney's profits were less than 25% of what they were pre-Covid. While Space Mountain is back, Disney's Parks and Experiences unit disappointed on profit big time. Streaming did not save the day...

• Disney minus: Disney+ gained 2.1M subscribers, the smallest rise since it launched two years ago and less than half what Netflix added.
• Frozen audience: CEO Bob Chapek said Disney+ is still on track to hit 230M to 260M subs by 2025, but some investors worry growth is tapping out.
• FYI: Disney's media biz, including streaming and cable, now makes up 70% of its sales.

From Belle to betting... Now that's a pivot. Chapek said "sports betting is a very significant opportunity" for Disney, and the company is pursuing it "aggressively" through its ESPN brand. ESPN has suffered as millennials continue cord-cutting, and streamer ESPN+, like Disney+, is still losing money. Gambling could be a lucrative way for Disney to attract young sports fans.

• ESPN has reportedly had talks with sportsbooks, including DraftKings and Caesars Entertainment, to license its famous name for a whopping $3B.
• ESPN already has sports-betting content on its platforms through marketing deals, but licensing could create an ESPN-branded betting platform.