Disney Up 1.5% On Crossing Streaming Milestone, Parks Reopening Plan

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock was up 1.5% in premarket trading Wednesday as a new update showed the company’s streaming service on track to meet its target of 260 million subscribers by 2024.

The entertainment giant’s new freedom to reopen its California parks in April after a winter closed due to the Covid-19 shutdown has also supported the stock in recent sessions.

Disney+, a response to Netflix’s disruption of the market, has signed up more than 100 million paying subscribers around the world in its first 16 months, Reuters quoted its Chief Executive Bob Chapek as saying at its annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday.

Streaming has thrived in the last year, while Disney’s main sources of cash – movie theaters, cruises and theme parks – have all been badly hit by the pandemic.

Chapek said it would take a few weeks to call back 10,000 furloughed employees to its two theme parks at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and train them in new virus safety procedures.

In addition, Disney might be able to resume some cruise ship operations in the fall, Chapek said, according to the Reuters report.

The company also aims to reinstate dividend payments, which were suspended during the pandemic, “at some point” in the future, Chapek said.