Netflix Is Now Worth More Than Disney

As you can imagine with so many of us helping to save lives by sitting home and binge-watching TV, Netflix’s shares hit an all-time high this week.

According to Forbes, Netflix’s market value hit $194 billion (Ksh 20,681,389,400,000), with investors seemingly reckoning that the future looks very bright for the streaming platform.

On the other side of the coin, Disney, which has had to close its theme parks due to the lockdown and also owns sport broadcaster ESPN, has seen its share price fall, with Forbes reporting Disney is valued below $184 billion (Ksh 19,615,338,400,000). This is a pretty massive drop for Disney, which was valued at $258 billion (Ksh 27,504,115,800,000) at the end of 2019.

Disney chairman Bob Iger, who recently decided to stay on his role until the pandemic is over, told Barron’s that the company has enough capital to ‘keep us more than solvent through a prolonged period’.

But added that the company would never return to how it was before this outbreak.

He said: “I don’t think we’re ever going to see a return to business as usual.” Explaining that in the future the company would need to ‘look for ways to run our businesses more efficiently’.

It’s not all doom and gloom for Disney, though, it’s recently launched streaming service has pulled in more than 50 million subscribers much sooner than it had predicted.

The streaming service is now available in 12 countries, after it launched in the US five months ago.

In response to the milestone, direct-to-consumer and international chairman Kevin Mayer said: “We’re truly humbled that Disney+ is resonating with millions around the globe and believe this bodes well for our continued expansion throughout Western Europe and into Japan and all of Latin America later this year.”