After acquiring a handful of shows and shifts from Disney+ and Hulu last week, Disney announced that the company will incur a $1.5 billion impairment charge for this quarter.
Will more shows be removed from Disney+?
The news comes from an SEC filing by the company on Friday (via diversity.) Disney notes that following the removal of “certain produced content” from its streaming services on May 26, 2023, an impairment charge of $1.5 billion will be recorded in its third-quarter financial reports.
These fees are charged “to adjust the book value of these content assets to fair value.” Disney also said it will continue to review content on streaming platforms and expects to remove more produced content from direct-to-consumer streaming services.
As a result, Disney anticipates additional charges of over $400 million. Last month, Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said the company would take on the charges. By writing down the value, McCarthy claims, the company could take the $1.5 billion off its balance sheet and reduce its tax burden going forward.
The move follows a fairly extensive purge of streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu, with the company removing more than 50 titles from both in total. Shows like Willow, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Dollface, and others have all been removed, a move Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company is “on track for long-term streaming viability.”
