The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company spent the back half of 2025 and the front of 2026 reorganizing the two surfaces this publication covers most: how its sports content reaches consumers, and who owns what equity in ESPN. ESPN’s standalone DTC service launched August 21, 2025 at $29.99 per month for the unlimited tier, ending three decades during which the cable bundle was the only consumer path to ESPN. Five months later, the NFL Network acquisition closed February 1, 2026 on terms that handed the league a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN at a $30 billion implied valuation, leaving Disney with 72 percent and Hearst with 18 percent.

Carriage friction priced into the model. The Oct 30 - Nov 14, 2025 YouTube TV blackout of ESPN and Disney’s broadcast and cable networks cost ESPN approximately $110 million in operating income, Disney disclosed in its Feb 2, 2026 Q1 FY26 earnings release — a $191 million Sports operating-income print that was 23 percent below the prior-year quarter. The same disclosure flagged that Q4 FY2025 was the last time Disney would report Disney+ and Hulu subscribers or ARPU, joining Netflix in retiring the most-watched streaming KPI.

The vMVPD restructuring matters for the broader pay-TV map. Disney closed its acquisition of a majority stake in FuboTV on October 29, 2025, merging Hulu + Live TV operations into a combined company in which Disney holds 70 percent and Fubo shareholders 30 percent. The combined entity is the No. 6 U.S. pay-TV provider with nearly 6 million subscribers. Fubo CEO David Gandler runs day-to-day operations of both services, which remain separately branded.

Governance flipped during the same window. Josh D’Amaro succeeded Bob Iger as CEO effective March 18, 2026, with Iger remaining Senior Advisor and board member through his December 31, 2026 retirement. D’Amaro had run Disney Experiences, the company’s largest segment ($36 billion FY2025 revenue). James Gorman, the former Morgan Stanley CEO who became Disney Board Chair in January 2025, led the succession process. CFO Hugh Johnston’s contract was extended in November 2025 through January 2029, holding the finance seat steady through the leadership transition.

The legal overhang the trade pubs are still tracking: a $50 million class-action settlement received preliminary approval March 31, 2026 covering YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream subscribers who paid inflated prices because Disney’s carriage agreements required full ESPN bundling. The settlement also obligates Disney to entertain a la carte carriage proposals from streaming pay-TV providers for three years — a structural concession that runs alongside the standalone ESPN DTC product Disney is now selling directly.