Unlocked Level COVID-19... Nintendo's profits surged an insane 428% last quarter thanks to Animal Crossing fame. Digital game sales soared 230%, and Switch sales jumped 167% on New Horizons hype. Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto publisher Take Two nearly doubled its profit last quarter, while Microsoft's Xbox gaming sales soared 64%. On the private side, Fortnite-maker Epic Games raised a whopping $1.8B at a $17.3B valuation. TLDR: digital fantasy worlds thrive during a pandemic (when IRL excitement = a trip to the fridge).
Investors chanting "Hakuna Matata"... Disney stock surged 12%, even though sales plunged 42% compared to last year. Disney lost $5B, compared to a $1.4B profit last year — US parks, resorts, and cruises were closed for the entire quarter. Plus, studio sales sank on zero theatrical releases (poor Mulan), and TV dipped on cord-cutting. But streaming sales rose: Disney now has 100M paying subscribers across its streamers (including Hulu and ESPN+). Disney's doubling down on this corona-friendly biz with a new streaming service (ETA 2021).