Disney released their Q4 numbers and had an earnings call earlier today. The results were mixed with linear TV and the box office missing, while streaming and parks and experiences did well. Disney’s stock is still dropping this morning and while some of it may be related to the earnings report, it might mostly be due to Disney’s CFO, Hugh Johnston, telling CNBC’s “Squawk Box” they were going to continue the carriage dispute with Google over YouTube TV.
Johnston said negotiations are live and Disney will go as long as Google does.
“…Things are live. They’re happening. Obviously, as we entered the year, we knew this was going to be a challenging battle, and we prepared ourselves for it, and we’re ready to go as long as they want to.
At the time of his comments, the stock was still up to over $113, but it has since plummeted to $106.
This admission may be making shareholders nervous. Everyone wants this carriage agreement resolved, and Johnston just announced Disney was not going to back down. When he said that the stocks started dropping more.
Disney is reportedly losing about $4.7 million a day, and up to $30 million a week, over the blackout on YouTube TV. All Disney-owned channels have been removed from the Google service as of 10/30/2025. The longer this drags on, the more money Disney loses.
It is also important to note that many people have signed up for Disney’s services after they left Google, which could offset some losses.
Johnson said Disney saw the fight coming. Could this explain their extreme behavior over Justin Connolly?
Connolly worked at Disney and was part of the team negotiating ESPN when he gave notice and jumped to Google as the global head of media and sports. His notice set off a lawsuit by Disney, accusing Google of poaching and Connolly of breach of contract.
Other people have come and gone with no issues, but since Connolly renewed his contract and Disney seemingly felt he could give Google an edge, they tried to force him to stay at Disney.
Disney worried that he had access to Disney’s sensitive information that could give Google an edge in negotiations. Connolly excused himself from participating in the negotiations to avoid a conflict of interest.
This resulted in a lawsuit that was recently settled.
But the fight with Google is still raging on, and Disney doesn’t seem ready to end it anytime soon.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
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