Disney Gallops On

Disney covers the most recent quarterly results of its surging profits:

Christine McCarthy (Disney CFO): Second quarter earnings per share, excluding items affecting comparability, were up 11% to $1.36, marking the 11th consecutive quarter in which we've delivered double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share. Our financial results this quarter, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment, demonstrate once again how the strength of our brand and a relentless focus on creative excellence and execution can continue to drive growth across our businesses and create value for our shareholders. ...

So things are basically ducky in the kingdom of Mouse. And as Diz Co.'s Chief Executive observed:

Robert Iger: ... I think it's really important with this business not to look at it as a quarterly business. Because we're not only continuing to support the $11 billion-plus franchises that we have as a company, but we continue to create intellectual property that is leverageable across our Consumer Products businesses.

Now, not all is leverageable as Star Wars and Frozen, as a for instance, but when you look at Zootopia and you look at Jungle Book, somewhat small so far, but Captain America won't be and the impact of Captain America long-term on that business and the other Marvel properties, the reintroduction of Spider-Man. Spider-Man is the hottest or the number one Marvel character from a consumer merchandise perspective. And reintroducing Spider-Man successfully as we've done in Captain America through the release next year, 2017 of Spider-Man, is something that also has to be considered.

So it's a kind of business that I think is very difficult to measure in terms of the bottom line success on a quarterly basis. We just don't run it that way. ...

I noted with interest in a recent visit to Disneyland here in California that there was a line early in the morning for our guests to meet Zootopia characters. I can tell you that Zootopia having done so well in China, there will be Zootopia characters in our park in China sooner than we had initially anticipated. ...

So the Berkshire-Hathaway of entertainment conglomerates is not only thriving, but is now being imitated by other fine entertainment conglomerates.