It's A Smaller World For Disney In 4Q

E Tickets, Anyone?

It looks like even DISNEY isn't recession-proof. Although the children's entertainment institution earned $760 million, or 40 cents a share, in Q4, that paled to the $877 million profit of Q4 2007. Disney blamed the quarterly profit decline to a $91 million bad-debt charge on a payment it was due from LEHMAN BROTHERS, which went bankrupt in SEPTEMBER.

Ominously, CEO BOB IGER told analysts on a conference call that bookings at its theme parks and resorts "have fallen off considerably" during the last month, and that consumers are being "very careful about what they spend." and could be waiting to see if discounts become available. Theme parks and resorts income rose 7% to $3 billion, but operating income fell 4% on a decrease in U.S. operations,

On a brighter side, DISNEY's media networks division, which includes its broadcast and cable-TV networks, saw quarterly revenue increase 4% to $4.2 billion. Cable networks revenue rose 5% to $2.93 billion, thanks largely to ESPN and strong DVD sales of "High School Musical 2." The ABC network and television stations enjoyed a 4% increase to $1.29 billion, but posted a operating loss of $150 million due to soft adv sales at the network and the stations.

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