Walt Disney Company's streaming platform Disney+ surpassed 100 million paying subscribers mark across 59 countries just 16 months after it launched operations.
Disney+, which saw its subscriber base expand to 87 million paying members in the first year of operations, is fast emerging as one of main challengers to the global dominance of Netflix that boasts more than 200 million customers.
"The enormous success of Disney+ … has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content," Walt Disney's chief executive, Bob Chapek, said in a statement to the company's virtual meeting of shareholders on Tuesday.
“In fact, we set a target of 100+ new titles per year.”
Disney+ is home for movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. It is available on most internet-connected devices and offers programming including films, documentaries, animated series and short-form content. It also exclusively streams films from The Walt Disney Studios.
“Our direct-to-consumer business is the company’s top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth,” Mr Chapek said.
The service was launched in the US in November 2019 before becoming available to viewers in Canada, Australia Singapore, Mexico, Japan and India. Last September, the company rolled out its services to additional European markets, launched Disney+Hotstar in Indonesia and started Disney+ streaming in Latin American markets in November. Disney plans additional launches in a number of Asia-Pacific territories this year, according to its 2020 annual report.
The service has yet to be rolled out in the Middle East where Netflix competes with regional streaming platforms including OSN and Starzplay.
Walt Disney hopes to reopen its California theme parks to limited attendance in late April, Reuters reported, citing Mr Chapek. The parks were closed a year ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
California officials have set guidelines that allow for theme parks in the state to reopen as soon as April 1. However, Mr Chapek said it would take a few weeks to call back 10,000 furloughed employees to its two theme parks at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and train them in new virus safety procedures.
Disney may also be able to resume some cruise ship operations in the fall. The company is hoping for a comeback at cinemas this year and intends to release Marvel movie Black Widow in theatres on May 7, Mr Chapek said.
Disney’s executive compensation plan was also approved at the meeting with 68 per cent votes in favour, a contrast from three years ago when investors rejected the plan, according to Bloomberg.
Mr Chapek, 61, earned $14.2 million in the last fiscal year, less than the $21.9m his predecessor Bob Iger earned in his first year as chief executive in 2006. Disney has eliminated bonuses for its mostly highly compensated executives in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
