Smart money ‘streams’ in for Disney+

Disney’s stock price took off like the Mandalorian’s jetpack early Friday after the Mouse House laid out ambitious plans for its Disney+ streaming service.

Shares in the Hollywood giant jumped about 8 percent to $167.08 in premarket trading as of 7:57 a.m. after it revealed Disney+ had racked up nearly 87 million subscribers since its November 2019 launch. It ended the day at a new high, up almost 14 percent to $175.72.

The subscriber number shattered expectations for Disney+, which was initially expected to draw 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024, according to reports.

The platform — which has attracted viewers with a huge library of classic content and original programs like the hit “Star Wars” spinoff “The Mandalorian” — is the largest plank of Disney’s streaming portfolio that also includes Hulu and ESPN+. Those three services had a combined subscriber base of more than 137 million, a number Disney expects to balloon to 300 to 350 million by the 2024 fiscal year. The growth will be “driven primarily by a significant increase in content output,” with Disney+ planning to release more than 100 titles a year, the company said.

“Streaming success has shifted attention away from weakness elsewhere” at Disney, whose theme park business has suffered greatly from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Geetha Ranganathan and Kevin Near.

“Disney’s pivot to streaming has succeeded with flying colors, setting it up for a close contest with Netflix,” they said in a research note.

Disney revealed the strong numbers two months after announcing a restructuring of its media and entertainment business to put a greater emphasis on streaming.