Disney Hands Off DVD, Blu-ray Sales to Sony
By Movieguide® Contributor
Walt Disney Co. is handing off its DVD and Blu-ray sales to Sony Group Corp.
Sources told Bloomberg that Disney is “shifting to a licensed model, under which Sony will market and distribute the discs to retailers,” per MSN.
Variety reported that it’s “unclear if this will result in layoffs at Disney,” adding that Disney is “expected to conduct an internal assessment across all business functions that support physical entertainment amid the transition to Sony.”
It makes sense that Disney is passing off the sales and distribution of their physical content to someone else.
Revenue from DVD and Blu-ray sales have declined drastically in the last few years, and many companies have simply cut sales of physical media altogether — Disney stopped selling DVD and Blu-ray discs in markets like Australia and New Zealand last year, while Netflix completely halted all sales of physical copies of its content.
In addition to this deal with Sony, Disney also recently shut down the Disney Movie Club, a subscription service and online store where people could purchase physical copies of rare Disney content.
“We’ve enjoyed serving you for the last 23 years, but consumer behavior and viewing preferences continue to evolve so we have made the tough decision to close Disney Movie Club,” a statement from the organization read.
Disney has been dealing with plummeting stock numbers over the last few years. Movieguide® previously reported on the company’s 2023 earnings report:
As Disney tries to stabilize with Bob Iger’s return, stock continues to fall for the leading entertainment company due to uncertainty over the future of its streaming platforms.
According to Variety, Disney shares dropped 9% on May 11, after the company released its earning reports for 2023.
Variety reported:
As of 11:30 a.m. ET, Disney’s stock price was $92.86/share, down 8.2%, and off its 52-week high of $126.48.
Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers for the quarter ended April 1, including a loss of 300,000 in the U.S./Canada. But the company narrowed its streaming losses by $400 million, down 26% year over year, and Disney said it would remove content from Disney+ to cut costs while also expecting to raise prices on the ad-free Disney+ tier. In addition, CEO Bob Iger announced that the company would launch an integrated Disney+/Hulu “one-app experience” in the U.S. by the end of 2023 — indicating Disney’s desire to hold on to Hulu.
