Disney (DIS) hiked streaming prices on Thursday as the company continues to grapple with direct-to-consumer profitability challenges and falling subscriber numbers.
The price increases, the second so far this year, impact the monthly price of the company's ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans in addition to its Hulu live TV packages and ESPN+ subscription. The company first announced the price hikes in August.
As a result of the hikes, the price of the Disney+ ad-free plan jumped to $13.99 a month in the US, up from the prior $10.99. That's now double the $6.99 monthly cost Disney charged for the service when it first launched in 2019.
Hulu's ad-free plan increased by $3 a month to $17.99 a month. The ad-supported tiers for both services will remain $7.99 each.
Price hikes will also hit Disney's two Hulu live TV packages with prices increasing by $7 each for both the ad-free plan and the ad-supported offering. ESPN+ will go up by $1 to $10.99 a month.
Disney reported streaming losses that totaled $512 million in its fiscal third quarter results — about half of the $1.1 billion loss reported in the prior-year period and less than the $777 million loss forecast by analysts. The company reported a streaming loss of $659 million in Q2 and a $1.1 billion loss in Q1.
Despite the narrowing loss, the company continues to shed subscribers. The media giant reported 146.1 million total Disney+ subscribers at the end of its latest quarter, a 7.4% decline from the previous quarter. Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected to see paying users total 154.8 million.
The majority of its subscriber losses came from its Indian brand Disney+ Hotstar, which saw users drop by 24% on a sequential basis. Disney said Hotstar is not material to the company due to its lower average revenue per user, or ARPU.
Domestic users, however, which include those in the US and Canada, dropped by 1%.
In addition to streaming headwinds, the company's parks business is slowing, its linear TV division is declining, and the media giant's box office also seems to have lagged competitors.
Iger has committed to several new initiatives to help realign the business — from putting Disney's linear assets up for sale and searching for a strategic partner for ESPN's streaming offering to partnering with sports gambling company Penn Entertainment (PENN) and recently raising theme park prices.
But that might not be enough to satisfy investors with the stock sinking to a nine-year low last week.
Late Sunday, the company faced renewed pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz, who launched yet another attack on the media giant.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Peltz will seek multiple board seats, including one for himself, after his hedge fund Trian Fund Management boosted its stake in the company, which is now valued at a reported $2.5 billion for more than 30 million shares.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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