Investing in Disney Stock (DIS)

Many Disney parks and resorts around the world are open and serving customers following a number of closures throughout the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Guests must have an advance ticket reservation. Face masks are strongly recommended for all indoor settings and required for all guests ages 2 and up on Disney shuttles and at first aid stations. Face masks are optional outdoors. Guests are not currently required to provide proof of vaccination. The advance registration system is new and allows visitors to book reservations up to several months in advance.

Disney has also changed its ticket options and services recently. Notably, it has introduced Genie and Genie+ services, which are available via a mobile app. Disney Genie is a complimentary service which provides personalized itineraries and planning for a Disney resort visit. Disney Genie+ is the advanced version, available for $15 per ticket per day, which also allows users to use the Lightning Lane (previously known as the FastPass program) for faster access to several attractions per day.

For Q1 FY 2022, ended Jan. 1, 2022, Disney reported 11.8 million new Disney+ subscribers. As of the end of the quarter, the company had 129.8 million total Disney+ subscribers. Disney+ subscriptions currently cost $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. Although the company has not announced plans to increase the cost of the subscription service, CEO Bob Chapek has said that as Disney increases content for the service, a price increase may follow. In a recent earnings call, he said that added content could provide an "impetus to increase that price/value relationship even higher and then have the flexibility...to then look at price increases on our service."

Yes. In 1967, Florida legislators created a special taxing district called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, for the site of the Disney World amusement park. The status allows Disney to provide typical municipal services like water and sewers, roads, and fire protection. The district also raises its own debt financing. Reedy Creek covers 40 squares miles, maintains 134 miles of roads and handles 60,000 tons of waste annually. Republican legislators who passed a bill repealing the district effective June 1, 2023 said details of the change would be worked out and legislated over the next year.

Passage of the Florida bill abolishing Disney's Reedy Creek special taxing district follows Disney's opposition to a new Florida law barring public school instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity for students in grades K through 3, and restricting it for other grades to "age-appropriate" presentations as specified by school boards, subject to lawsuits by parents. Opponents of the law have argued it fosters discrimination and hate. Disney initially opted not to join the many other large companies opposing the measure. After protests from Disney employees opposed to the legislation, Chapek apologized and promised the company would lobby against the passage of similar laws in other states and would pause its political donations in Florida, which had mostly gone to Republican politicians in recent years. Disney's policy shift brought condemnation from conservatives, including some who warned the company's business interests would be in jeopardy as a result. Disney did not comment immediately on the legislation abolishing its Reedy Creek special taxing district. However, by late April, Disney reminded Florida of its billion-dollar bond debt would need to be resolved before the state could move forward.

Disney has split its stock 7 times:

• July 9, 1998: a 3-for-1 split.
• May 15, 1992: a 4-for-1 split.
• March 5, 1986: a 4-for-1 split.
• Jan. 15, 1973: a 2-for-1 split.
• March 1, 1971: a 2-for-1 split.
• Nov. 15, 1967: a 2-for-1 split.
• Aug. 20, 1956: a 2-for-1 split.

Disney does not currently pay a dividend. The most recent semi-annual cash dividend of $0.88 per share was payable Jan. 16, 2020. The company has not declared or paid a dividend with respect to FY 2021 operations.

As of Feb. 2, 2022, there were 1,820,633,408 common shares of Disney stock outstanding.

Disney's CEO is Bob Chapek. Until his appointment as CEO on Feb. 25, 2020, Chapek spent nearly three decades at Disney, heading the company's theme parks unit from 2015. In that role, Chapek dramatically expanded the company's parks and related offerings, launching the Shanghai Disney Resort and nearly doubling the Disney Cruise Line fleet.