Disney Falls Behind Profit And Revenue Estimates 🔻

Disney reported earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, which saw the company falling short of expectations for profit and key revenue segments for the fourth quarter.

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Key Stats:

• Disney reported fourth-quarter revenue of $20.15 billion, up 9% year-over-year, but it fell short of analysts’ estimates of $21.24 billion.
• Earnings per share (EPS): $0.30 per share adjusted vs. $0.55 expected
• Disney+ total subscriptions: 164.2 million vs. 160.45 million expected

The Good: For the full fiscal year, Disney had revenue of $82.7 billion, up 23% year-over-year, as compared to $67.4 billion a year ago.

The Bad: Average revenue per Disney+ subscriber was down 5% globally.

Future Outlook:

Disney is set to hike prices for its services in December and is planning an ad-supported tier, which is expected to bolster the company’s revenue.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in the company’s earnings release that “Disney+ will achieve profitability in fiscal 2024.”

Google to Allow These Apps to Bill Users Directly ✅

Google Play will now let Bumble and Spotify bill users for subscriptions directly inside their Android apps.

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Key Points:

• Google is looking to expand its user choice billing pilot, allowing Android app developers to use other payment systems besides Google’s own.
• The pilot will include Bumble and Spotify apps, and the program will be available to new markets, including the United States, Brazil, and South Africa.
• Google said that Spotify will now begin rolling out the implementation of the program starting this week.

What’s next?

Developers who are interested in adopting user choice billing in these apps need to follow specific UX guidelines set by the tech giant that provide details on how to implement the feature in their apps.

Currently, these guidelines require developers to display an information screen and a separate billing choice screen.

In its blog post, Google says the goal of its pilot is to “understand complexities involved in supporting user choice billing for developers and users in countries across the world while maintaining a safe and positive user experience.”

OpenSea to Enforce NFT Royalties 💵

NFT marketplace OpenSea will continue to enforce creator royalty fees on NFTs following significant backlash from the community.

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Quick Takeaways:

• Earlier this week, OpenSea announced the launch of its on-chain tool, enabling creators to impose royalties for any new collections on the platform, but said that it would not offer the same to existing collections.
• In the announcement, OpenSea said it would be considering options ranging from enforcing off-chain fees for “some subsets of collections” to “allowing optional creator fees” to “collaborating with other on-chain enforcement options for creators.”
• However, the announcement from the NFT marketplace saw significant backlash from the creator community, who urged OpenSea to make changes to its decision.

The good thing: OpenSea has responded to the criticisms of the creator community and confirmed, saying that it will “continue to enforce creator fees on all existing collections” as well.

Blnk Just Raised $32 Million in Funding 💰

Blnk, a fintech startup that enables instant consumer credit in Egypt, has raised $32 million in its funding round.

Here are the details:

• The $32 million fundraising is segregated among different funding types and stages, including $12.5 million in pre-seed & seed equity rounds led by Sawari Ventures and other investors. The funding also includes $11.2 million in debt financing and $8.3 million in securitized bond issuance.
• The capital will support the further development of Blnk’s Artificial Intelligence-powered lending infrastructure and the financing of the company’s fast-growing portfolio of customers.

About Blnk:

Blnk is a fintech company with a mission of enabling inclusion through point-of-sale financing.

By leveraging its vast base of merchant branches across Egypt, Blnk has disbursed over $20 million in loans to date. Notably, merchants are also boosting their profitability via the transaction commission that Blnk provides to them.

Gaming Company Kabam Lays Off 7% of Staff ✂️

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Kabam, a gaming company that develops free-to-play games, has laid off about 7% of its workforce (about 35 employees).

This is important because the gaming company develops mobile games in partnership with entertainment brands, including Disney and Universal, among others.

With this move, Kabam has joined the growing list of tech companies that have cut their workforce due to economic uncertainty.

That’s a wrap for today, ladies & gents. See ya tomorrow!