🏈 Disney’s sports-betting play

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.

Pea protein takes an L… Plant-based-patty powerhouse Beyond Meat has lost some of its bite. While overall sales grew last quarter, Beyond’s US sales dropped 14% from last year — and its loss nearly tripled. Beyond blamed lower demand, plus production-related snags. It also gave a disappointing forecast for this quarter, citing pandemic uncertainty. Shares tumbled 13% yesterday, pulling Beyond’s market cap down to $5B from its 2019 high of $14B.

Beyond Beyond… Beyond is estimated to control about a quarter of the US alt-meat market, but plant-based competition is growing. Big Food companies may be an even bigger threat than smaller rivals, like Impossible Foods. Globally, Beyond sells in 122K stores while Impossible is in 20K — but Big Food companies like Tyson and Kraft are nearly everywhere.

• Kroger saw a surge in sales of its plant-based meat brand Simple Foods last year, while food giants like Tyson, Hormel, and Kraft have launched their own alt-meat products.
• Beyond and Impossible have lowered prices to compete with Big Food, which can afford to undercut smaller rivals.
• Partnerships with chains like Starbucks and McDonald’s have helped Beyond and Impossible grow, but aren’t taking off as fast as expected.

• Sold: The average US home now sells one week after hitting the market — the shortest time frame in 22 years.
• eSingle: Alibaba’s “Singles Day” shopping event was hampered by supply-chain troubles, which resulted in higher costs and delays for the Chinese ecomm titan.
• Headline: The DOJ and SEC are investigating Ozy Media, which shut down last month over accusations that it misled prospective investors.
• Payout: Miami plans to pay its residents a “Bitcoin dividend” following the launch of its MiamiCoin cryptocurrency, which has already generated $21M+ in revenue.
• Wipes: Shares of Jessica Alba’s Honest Company jumped 10% yesterday after it reported a boom in sales of skin care, diapers, and baby wipes.
• Swerve: Chinese real-estate developer Evergrande avoided default for the third time this year after making interest payments on its $300B debt.

• Earnings expected from AstraZeneca and Warby Parker

Authors of this Snacks own: Bitcoin, and shares of Disney and Starbucks

ID: 1919413