Communications-services rallied as Disney's new chief executive captured the market's imagination.
Disney shares rose by more than 7% after new chief executive, Josh D'Amaro, said he would make the Disney+ app a digital hub for all the company's businesses and invest in new technology, particularly around videogames.
On an earnings call, Disney Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston shot down persistent questions about whether it would sell or spin off some of its linear television networks, as NBCUniversal has done and Warner Bros. Discovery was planning to do before agreeing to be acquired by Paramount Skydance.
The New York Times was sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over allegations it passed over a white man for promotion in pursuit of what the agency called unlawful corporate diversity policies.
CNN founder Ted Turner, instrumental in the origins of the cable-news era, died at the age of 87.
Philanthropist and media tycoon Ted Turner is the founder of the CNN news channel. He was ranked as 564th global fortune, according to Forbes, and considered by New York Times the most generous philanthropist.
After his graduation at Brown University in Rhone Island, Ted Turner started to work to his father’s advertising agency. At 24 years old, he was promoted to director, while his father’s health gets worse and financial difficulties arrive. Ted puts all his energy to convince new customers to use his billboards. His determination and his power of persuasion will paid.
He re established financial health of enterprise and made of Turner Advertisement, the first advertisement agency in the South east of United States.
Observing that the advertisers are more interested in radio and television to communicate, Ted Turner bought many radio stations in order to impose himself on the advertising market, but the broadcast rights are very expensive and do not allow to generate important profits. But this is not important for Ted, who continued with his strategy and bought a small television station in Atlanta.
In 1980, despite the scepticism of the media sector, Ted launched Cable News Network (CNN), the first continuous news channel. CNN met many difficulties until 1985; in 1986 the channel became famous because broadcast live the Space Shuttle Challenger’s crash. From that moment, the chain gradually increases its popularity. The Gulf war in 1991 will promote the channel on the international stage.
Ted Turner continued his conquest of the media. In 1992, he bought the cartoon studio Hannah Barbera and then Caste Rock Entertainment and Newline Cinema, which are some of the constellations of Turner Broadcasting System.
In 1995, Warner spent $7.5 billion in order to do the merger with Turner Broadcasting System, obtaining CNN and Cartoon Network. Ted Turner, the first shareholder is appointed as Vice President. But in 2002, the merger with AOL, goes wrong and causes nearly $ 45 billion loss for the fourth quarter only. Ted Turner, still the first shareholder renounced to his functions within Time Warner.
Ted Turner has certainly revolutionized the media sector but he has also left a mark on philanthropy. The most important philanthropic according to New York Times, he started the philanthropic activity in 1991, with an organization lead by his wife, Jane Fonda. He founded the Turner Family Foundation, which it’s driven by a former head of Greenpeace USA.
In 1997, Turner signed to give a billion dollars to the United Nations, paying 100 million annually for a decade. This amount should help the fight against malaria, landmines or global warming. He became the largest private donor of all the time.
His critics, who have nicknamed him “the mouth of the South”, accuse him to make a “media coup” with the only objective to receive a Nobel Prize for peace.
The Walt Disney Company is a media and entertainment group. Net sales (including intragroup) break down by activity as follows:
- entertainment and audiovisual production (44.1%): TV broadcasting and video streaming (58% of net sales; Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar and Hulu), operation of TV channels and radio stations (22%; ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX and National Geographic) and other (20%; production and distribution of audiovisual content, film licensing, etc.);
- operation of theme parks and hotel resorts (37.5%): operation, as of 27/09/2025, of 74 theme parks (39 hotels) located in the United States (Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, etc.; 42 theme parks and 21 hotels), France (Disneyland Paris; 9 theme parks and 7 hotels), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Disneyland; 8 theme parks and 3 hotels), China (Shanghai Disney Resort; 8 theme parks and 2 hotels) and Japan (Tokyo Disney Resort; 7 theme parks and 6 hotels). The group is also involved in cruise sales (Disney Cruise Line), travel organization (Disney Vacation Club and Adventures By Disney), design and development of parks and other real estate properties, and sale of consumer products (children's books, toys, game software, films, etc.);
- production and distribution of TV and video streaming programmes focusing on sport (18.4%): ESPN and ESPN+.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the Americas (81%), Europe (11.7%) and Asia/Pacific (7.3%).
This super rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (4 months), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Investor
Investor
This super composite rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (1 year), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Global
Global
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), Financial Estimates Revisions (Composite), Consensus (Composite) and Visibility (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 4 of these 5 ratings for the calculation to be carried out. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Quality
Quality
This composite rating is the result of an average of rankings based on the following ratings: Returns (Composite), Profitability (Composite) and Quality of Financial Reporting (Composite), and Financial Health (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 2 of these 3 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully read the associated descriptions.
ESG MSCI
ESG MSCI
The MSCI ESG score assesses a company’s environmental, social, and governance practices relative to its industry peers. Companies are rated from CCC (laggard) to AAA (leader). This rating helps investors incorporate sustainability risks and opportunities into their investment decisions.
