“Disney stock is down more than 70% and attendance is down more than 55%! 10.1 million people canceled their Disney+ subscription.”
Disney’s stock did not drop 70%, contrary to social media claims
If your time is short
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While the Walt Disney Co.’s stock value has decreased since the company spoke out against the law nicknamed "don’t say gay" by critics, it fell by 25%, not 70%.
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Disney reported growth in theme park attendance and guest spending in its latest quarterly report. The company also reported that its streaming service, Disney+, had a 33% increase in subscribers.
The Walt Disney Co. has been a target for misinformation since it denounced a Florida law that bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Social media users have claimed that Disney’s move has led to economic turmoil.
“Disney stock is down more than 70% and attendance is down more than 55%,” said a May 10 Facebook post. “10.1 million people canceled their Disney+ subscription. Everything woke goes broke.”
The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Disney did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment. But as fact-checkers at Agence France-Presse reported in April, the claim in the Facebook post is unfounded.
The Facebook post did not give a timeframe for measuring Disney’s stock performance. We looked at multiple starting points and did not find one that amounted to a loss of 70%.
Disney’s stock price was around $105 when trading closed May 13, according to Yahoo Finance.
This is a 25% drop since the company’s stock price swelled to $141 on March 29, the day after Disney said its “goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature.”
Although the stock value had begun falling before the company criticized Florida’s new law, Disney’s stock did drop 8 percentage points after Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to dissolve the company’s special taxing district.
The post also said Disney’s theme park attendance experienced a massive drop. Disney’s latest figures regarding its theme parks were released May 11, when the company reported that its revenue increased to $6.7 billion.
Disney attributed much of the revenue growth to increased guest spending and attendance at its domestic parks.
Similarly, the post’s claim that the company’s subscription-based streaming service, Disney+, had “10.1 million” cancellations is unproven.
Disney reported a subscription growth of 33% during the second fiscal quarter, which “partially offset” higher costs related to programming, production and marketing.
The figures in the Facebook post closely resemble an article published on USA TATERS, a satirical website started by Christopher Blair.
The article also said the company’s CEO was “Joe Barron,” a regular fixture of Blair’s satirical websites. In reality, Disney’s chief executive is Bob Chapek.
The Facebook versions of the claim did not include a disclaimer that it was satire. We rate this claim False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, May 10, 2022
PolitiFact, There’s no evidence Disney+ lost over 350,000 subscribers in ‘five days,’ April 12, 2022
PolitiFact, There’s no evidence Disney recently lost 172,000 reservations, April 18, 2022
PolitiFact, Walt Disney World was not tax-exempt in Florida, contrary to social media claims, April 27, 2022
PolitiFact, ‘Don’t say gay’ vs. ‘parental rights': Fact-checking claims about Florida’s HB 1557, March 23, 2022.
WaltDisneyCompany.com, Statement From the Walt Disney Co. on signing of Florida legislation, March 28, 2022
AFP, Posts falsely claim Disney slid 70 percent amid Florida law backlash, April 15, 2022
Yahoo Finance, The Walt Disney Co. (DIS), assessed May 16, 2022.
CNN, Disney needs a comeback year. Will it get it?, Jan. 3, 2022
WaltDisneyCompany.com, The Walt Disney Co. reports second-quarter and six-months earnings for fiscal 2022, May 11, 2022
