The stock price is down about 4% in recent days, and is falling again on Monday.
stock is down about 4% amid backlash from its suspension of ABC late night television show host Jimmy Kimmel on September 17.
The stock was moving lower again on Monday, down almost 2% to roughly $112 per share, as the protests gained momentum.
Kimmel was suspended by Disney, the parent company of ABC, for a joke he made about how the “MAGA gang” was trying to “score political points” from the murder of conservative media personality and activist Charlie Kirk.
Disney suspended Kimmel after two leading TV station owners, Sinclair and Nexstar threatened to pull Kimmel’s show off its stations. FCC chairman Brendan Carr called it a “very serious issue for Disney” adding “these companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” reported the Associated Press.
It did indeed become a serious issue for Disney for the backlash it has caused. There have been widespread calls for cancellations of Disney’s streaming properties, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. In addition to outrage on social media, celebrities and actors have called for people to cancel their Disney subscriptions. Even former Disney CEO Michael Eisner blasted the decision.
“Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment?” Eisner posted on X, reported NBC News.
Now What for Disney?
There have been no official responses from Disney on how many subscriptions have been cancelled as a result of this, but it could be significant. When announced that it was ending Stephen Colbert’s show on CBS, it showed a loss of 1.3 million subscribers from the previous quarter. Yet, the subscription numbers were up 22% year-over-year.
According to multiple reports, Disney has been in discussions with Kimmel to put him back on the air and hopefully stem the flow of cancellations.
This fiasco couldn’t come at a worse time for Disney as it had finally been gaining positive momentum in its streaming business. In addition, it just launched its new ESPN+ streaming bundle, starting at $29.99.
Disney stock is up 2% year-to-date and it is fairly cheap at 17 times earnings. But this has the potential to damage the brand, at least temporarily, as we have seen in the recent past with companies like and Tesla, which have suffered from boycotts and protests.
We won’t know much about the subscriber impact until the next quarterly earnings come out on November 12. In the meantime, investors should watch and wait to see how this plays out over the next few weeks.