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XThe New Hope in Disney's Dismal Earnings Report: Disney Plus
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake

COVID-19 has so far vaporized $1.4 billion of Disney's operating income, the media giant reported in its second-quarter earnings statement.
The bulk of it: A $1 billion loss from the entertainment giant's parks, experiences and products segment, as Disney has had to close its theme parks and retail stores and suspend cruises and tours because of the novel coronavirus. Overall earnings per share fell 63% year-on-year, a stark difference from what investors have come to expect from most Disney earnings periods. The company also announced that it will forego its semiannual dividend in July, which it estimated will save over $1 billion.
Nestled within the bleakness, however, shines Disney's streaming platform, Disney+, perhaps a New Hope in a pandemic era where the virus is shutting down filming and forcing people to stream instead of heading to the cinema.
The streaming service — which launched in November offering a wide range of viewing options including Disney originals, Star Wars, Marvel, and the former 21st Century Fox library — now boasts 54.5 million subscribers, the company said. That number is bolstered by subsidized users through a partnership with Verizon, and the conversion of Disney-owned Indian media firm Hotstar customers to Disney+. Yet, executives touted the platform's performance as a sign of Disney's resiliency and cause for optimism.
Disney+ Booth And Signage D23 Expo 2019 | Anthony Quintano | Flickr
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Adding some color to the grim figures surrounding Disney's theme parks, the company announced it plans to reopen its Shanghai park on May 11th. Numerous safety measures will be implemented, including requirements that employees and guests wear masks, and density restrictions.
LightShed Partners media analyst Rich Greenfield has described the position Disney is in with its parks as a "lose-lose," wherein a given park must either remain closed and eat its fixed costs, or open and risk low attendance plus reputation damage should problems arise. The Shanghai park experience will be a beacon for what to expect regarding Disney's other parks in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Orlando and Anaheim.
Similarly, the expected performance of Disney's film slate will be informed by film releases elsewhere, said Chief Executive Bob Chapek during a call with analysts. Christopher Nolan's Tenet remains set for release by AT&T-owned Warner Bros. on July 17; Chapek pointed to the film, which he referred to as an anonymous "competitive movie," as a good clue for what to expect for Disney's own tentpole film Mulan, which is set to reach the big screen one week later (originally scheduled for March 27).
Then there's the whole studios vs. cinema controversy.
In light of last week's open-letter salvos between Universal Studios and AMC theaters regarding the former's plans to eschew the long-entrenched Hollywood practice of giving film exhibitors a window of exclusivity – which resulted in AMC declaring it would immediately stop showing all of Universal's films – Chapek walked a diplomatic line: "We very much believe in the value of the theatrical experience overall," he said. "But because of evolving consumer dynamics, or because of COVID-19, we may have to make some changes to that overall strategy because the theaters aren't open. We're going to evaluate each movie on a case-by-case situation."
Overall, Disney's Studio revenues were up by 18% year-on-year, though this was partially due to the consolidation of the 21st Century Fox acquisition (since renamed TFCF), and doesn't account for the additional havoc that COVID-19 has wrought since the end of the Q2 earnings period.
Disney's Media networks reported a 28% revenue increase, also boosted by the TFCF consolidation. Ad sales have seen a "significant impact" from the virus, said Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy. With no live sports, ESPN was hit particularly hard. Disney executives, however, emphasized the popularity of the recently aired NFL Draft, which they said had a record 50 million-plus viewers across the event's three days, and the ongoing documentary series about the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls, The Last Dance, which the company claimed is the "highest rated original documentary of all time."
Such indicators, the company said, suggest a "pent-up demand" for sports -- a phrase the executives also used when discussing the company's parks and studio businesses.
Whether or not that comes to fruition, it is clear that the demand for streaming has already been unleashed.
Disney's ongoing push there continues to represent a big chunk of the company's future. But the scourge of COVID-19 may obstruct those plans. "We believe Disney will be forced to cut back on strategic investments and substantially reduce costs, just as investors were hoping they would increase investment to take advantage of their successful pivot to streaming," Greenfield wrote.
This was Chapek's first earnings call since taking over the executorship from longtime CEO and Chairman Bob Iger in February. What Chapek must now deal with hardly resembles what he inherited. Iger has reportedly retained a more hands-on role than the succession plan initially entailed. And it was Iger that led Tuesday's call with Wall Street analysts, perhaps to keep investors calm with continuity. As the drama continues to unfold across the conglomerate, the question is: Will the happiest place on Earth be able to bob its way through the blows dealt by the coronavirus?
Shares fell 2% on the day to $101 in after-hours trading on the New York Stock Exchange, down from an all-time high of about $150 just months ago.
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Sam Blake covers media and entertainment for dot.LA. Find him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA
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Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
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Greater Good Health Raises $10 Million To Fix America’s Doctor Shortage
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
The pandemic highlighted what’s been a growing trend for years: Medical students are prioritizing high-paying specialty fields over primary care, leading to a shortage of primary care doctors who take care of a patient’s day-to-day health concerns. These physicians are a cornerstone of preventative health care, which when addressed can lower health care costs for patients, insurers and the government. But there’s a massive shortage of doctors all over the country, and the pipeline for primary care physicians is even weaker.
One local startup is offering a possible answer to this supply squeeze: nurse practitioners.
On Wednesday, Manhattan Beach-based Greater Good Health unveiled a $10 million Series A funding round led by LRVHealth, which adds to the startup’s $3 million seed round last year. The company employs nurse practitioners and pairs them with doctor’s offices and medical clinics; this allows nurse practitioners to take on patients who would otherwise have to wait weeks, or even months, to see a doctor.
“This access and equity issue is just going to become more pervasive if we don't do things to help people gain more access,” Greater Good founder and CEO Sylvia Hastanan told dot.LA. “We need more providers to offer more patients appointments and access to their time to take care of their needs. And in order to do that, we really need to think about the workforce.”
There has been a growing movement in the medical industry to use nurse practitioners in place of increasingly scarce primary care physicians. California passed a law in 2020 that will widen the scope of nurse practitioners and allow them to operate without a supervising physician by 2023. Amid a shortage of doctors, there’s also the question of what will become of the largest and longest-living elderly population in recent history, Baby Boomers. Public health officials are already scrambling for ways to take care of this aging demographic’s myriad health needs while also addressing the general population.
“By the time you and I get old enough where we need primary care providers to help us with our ailments and chronic conditions, there aren't [going to be] enough of them,” Hastanan said. “And/or there just isn't going to be enough support for those nurse practitioners to really thrive in that way. And I worry about what our system will look like.”
Nurse practitioners function much like doctors do—they can monitor vitals, diagnose patients, and, in some cases, prescribe medication (though usually under the supervision of a doctor). Nurse practitioners need to get either a master’s degree or higher in nursing and complete thousands of hours of work in a clinical setting. All told, it usually takes six-to-eight years to become a nurse practitioner, compared to 10-to-15 years to become a practicing physician.
Greater Good Health’s platform puts nurse practitioners in often years-long care settings where they manage patients—most of whom are chronically ill, high-risk patients that need to be seen regularly and thoroughly. This allows them to follow up more carefully on patients they have managed for years, instead of catching up on a new patient’s history and treating them in the moment. Patients, meanwhile, don’t have to see a rotating door of clinicians and can talk to a provider they already have an established rapport with.
The one-year-old startup will use the funding to provide learning and development opportunities for its nurse practitioners and also connect them with each other through virtual support groups. Burnout has been an issue across health care during the pandemic, spurring an exodus of nursing and support staff and leaving health care facilities woefully understaffed. Greater Good hopes that keeping nurse practitioners in more stable, years-long care situations and offering them career development opportunities will help retain them and keep them in the workforce longer.
“We want them to be well-rounded and balanced both in work and life, and we see that returns us healthier, more engaged and ready nurse practitioners,” Hastanan said.
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
Plus Capital Partner Amanda Groves on Celebrity Equity Investments
On this episode of the L.A. Venture podcast, Amanda Groves talks about how PLUS Capital advises celebrity investors and why more high-profile individuals are choosing to invest instead of endorse.
As a partner at PLUS, Groves works with over 70 artists and athletes, helping to guide their investment strategies. PLUS advises their talent roster to combine their financial capital with their social capital and focus on five investment areas: the future of work, future of education, health and wellness, the conscious consumer and sustainability.
“The idea is if we can leverage these people who have incredible audiences—and influence over that audience—in the world of venture capital, you'd be able to help make those businesses move forward faster,” Groves said.
PLUS works to create celebrity partnerships by identifying each client’s passions and finding companies that align with them, Groves said. From there, the venture firm can reach out to prospective partners from its many contacts and can help evaluate businesses that approach its clients. Recently, PLUS paired actress Nina Dobrev with the candy company SmartSweets after she had told them about her love for its snacks.
Celebrity entrepreneurship has shifted quite a bit in recent years, Groves said. While celebrities are paid for endorsements, Groves said investing allows them to gain equity from the growth of companies that benefit from their work.
“Like in movies, for example, where they're earning a residual along the way, they thought, ‘You know, if we're going to partner with these brands and create a tremendous amount of enterprise value, we should be able to capture some of the upside that we're generating, too’,” she said.
Partnering in this way also allows her clients to work with a wider range of brands, including small brands that often can’t afford to spend millions on endorsements. Investing allows high-profile individuals to represent brands they care about, Groves said.
“The last piece of the puzzle was a drive towards authenticity,” Groves said. “A lot of these high-profile artists and athletes are not interested, once they've achieved some sort of level of success, in partnering with brands that they don't personally align with.”
Hear the full episode by clicking on the playhead above, and listen to LA Venture on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
dot.LA Editorial Intern Kristin Snyder contributed to this post.
Rivian Stock Roller Coaster Continues as Amazon Van Delivery Faces Delays
David Shultz is a freelance writer who lives in Santa Barbara, California. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside and Nautilus, among other publications.
Rivian’s stock lost 7% yesterday on the back of news that the company could face delays in fulfilling Amazon’s order for a fleet of electric delivery vans due to legal issues with a supplier. The electric vehicle maker is suing Commercial Vehicle Group (CVG) over a pricing dispute related to the seats that the supplier promised, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The legal issue could mean that Amazon may not receive their electric vans on time. The dispute hinges on whether or not Commercial Vehicle Group is allowed to raise the prices of its seats after Rivian made engineering and design changes to the original version. Rivian says the price hike from CVG violates the supply contract. CVG denies the claim.
Regardless, the dispute could hamper Rivian’s ability to deliver electric vans to Amazon on time. The ecommerce/streaming/cloud computing/AI megacorporation controls an 18% stake in Rivian as one of the company’s largest early investors. Amazon has previously said it hopes to buy 100,000 delivery vehicles from Rivian by 2030.
The stock plunge marked another wild turn for the EV manufacturer. Last week, Rivian shares dropped 21% on Monday after Ford, another early investor, announced its intent to sell 8 million shares. The next few days saw even further declines as virtually the entire market saw massive losses, but then Rivian rallied partially on the back of their earnings report on Wednesday, gaining 28% back by Friday. Then came yesterday’s 7% slide. Today the stock is up another 10%.
Hold on tight, who knows where we’re going next.
David Shultz is a freelance writer who lives in Santa Barbara, California. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside and Nautilus, among other publications.