🏰 Disney’s plus profits

Putting on “Moana”… for the 50th time. Investors had a clear takeaway from Disney’s expectation-beating quarterly report yesterday: entertainment’s on the up-and-up, and theme parks are not. Mickey’s streaming biz (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) stole the show, posting its first-ever combined profit of $47M. That’s a reversal from last year’s $500M+ loss for the same quarter. Disney’s movie biz got a boost from “Inside Out 2,” which became the highest-grossing animated film. “Deadpool & Wolverine” is expected to pump up revenues this quarter. But it wasn’t all fairy-tale results…

• Mouse trap: Operating income at Disney’s US theme parks fell 6% on higher expenses and flat attendance. Execs said “flattish” parks revenue will likely continue over the next few quarters.

Unmagic Mountain… Amusement parks thrived after the pandemic as people sought out real-life thrills. But higher park ticket prices have steered some folks to opt for cruises and global getaways instead. Last month, Comcast said quarterly sales at its Universal theme parks sank nearly 11%. Knott’s Berry Farm parent Cedar Fair saw record Q1 revenue, but in-park spending slipped. Six Flags, which merged with Cedar Fair last month, saw Q1 revenue fall 6% on the year after it sold fewer membership passes (Six Flags reports fresh #s today).

Posting through it… Less than a year after Elon Musk told advertisers to “go f— yourself,” his relationship with major advertisers has somehow gotten even worse. This week, X filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against an ad industry coalition and four of its key members (CVS, Mars, Unilever, and Orsted). X, which has promoted itself as a home for free speech, alleged that the World Federation of Advertisers conspired to illegally boycott the platform. It was the latest update in a rocky relationship between advertisers and X since Musk’s acquisition.

• @ntitrust: X called the ad coalition’s moves a “coercive exercise of market power” and stated that the revenue hit the biz suffered has made it a “less effective competitor.”

• Threads: Last year, X sued Media Matters, a watchdog group, saying a report which said ads on X appeared near antisemitic content was an attempt to drive away advertisers. Another X suit, against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, was tossed in March.

• A suit X didn’t file: The platform’s facing a lawsuit from journalist Don Lemon, who had his X partnership scrapped after a contentious interview with Musk.

It’s what’s happening… and it’s not lookin’ good. Reports say X earned $114M in US revenue last quarter, down 53% year over year. Analysts estimate X’s global ad sales will hit ~$2B this year, less than half of its 2021 total. In June, Musk attended the Cannes Lions ad festival to woo back advertisers that had left the platform over inflammatory posts and moderation concerns. At the event, Musk told advertisers that X might be “worth trying out” again.