Disney investor suggests bundling ESPN+ with larger streamer to meet profitability

Activist investor Nelson Peltz believes that Walt Disney Co. can “achieve profitability in streaming by bundling its ESPN+ online service with a larger player interested in sports,” such as Netflix Inc., according to sources cited by Buckley & Shaw of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management LP will publish a so-called “white paper detailing its investment thesis and recommendations for Disney” in the weeks after the entertainment giant’s next earnings report on Feb. 7. Disney already sells its three streaming services -- Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ -- in a package at a discount, but its streaming services lost $2.5B in FY23. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that he is “looking to sell a stake in ESPN to a company that can help broadly distribute a new direct-to-consumer version of the company’s main sports channel” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/30).