Good morning.
I'm Brian Curtis and I'm Doug Prisner. Here are the stories we're following today.
Israel saying that his troops have entered the middle of Gaza City. At Baxter is covering that story and has more from the nine to sixty news women in San Francisco.
Yeah, Brian, exactly the way they put it is the heart of Gaza. It says it's continuing the offensive against Hamas, while signaling there will be a post conflict transition period in quotes until it is clear who takes control of the territory. G seven is issued a statement out of their Tokyo meeting that Gaza needs a pause. US Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln says humanitarian aid needs to get in.
We all agree that humaniitrane pauses would advance key objectives to protect Palestinian civilians, to increase the sustained flow of humanitarian assistance, to allow our citizens in foreign nationals to exit, and to facilitate the release of hostages.
Drawing a distinction between pause and sees fire.
Calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result. It would likely bring about amass left in place with more than two passages with a capacity and stated intent to repeat October seventh, again and again and again.
Meanwhile, frustration and getting that humanitarian aid in and out through the RAFA crossing. State Department spokesman Vida Patel, this.
Is not a crossing in which we really have much input into whether it can open or close.
He says, See he does expect American citizens to still be able to exit at some point. One other note, Yameni Huthies backed by Iran say that they have shot down a us drone over Yumena Waters. Third GOP debate tonight because of polling, Ron De Santas and Nikki Haley's center and stage literally and figuratively, and it'll be a story line tonight whether they go after each other, Donald Trump, and now the issue of abortion will also play a
major role. But Bloomberg Christian Hall says foreign policy as well.
I think Nikki Hayley this is the winning moment for her. It's her show. I mean, she has a lot to take, she has a lot to win from this debate. Her campaign has really tried to make her foreign policy experience a highlight of her campaign. I know that they have often brought up that she's a former UN ambassador.
As for the post mortem on the issue of abortion from last night's election, Vice President Kamala Harris says, it's simple.
The voter said, look, the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.
Harris says, voters stood with freedom. Ivanka Trump on the stand today and her dad's civil fraud trial, says she had no role in figuring or reporting her dad's property and that worth claims. Attorney General Letitia James says, no, that's not the case.
Ivanka Trump secured negotiated loans to obtain favorable terms based on fraudulent statements of financial condition.
Ed says Trumps can't hide from the truth. Panda diplomacy nearly over. Amazing beloved giant pandas at Washington, d c's National Zoo have started the journey back to China, created up loaded into a special Panda Express FedEx flight. Others in Atlanta, San Diego, Memphis heating back as well soon. This of course happening in the shadow of the she Biden summit. Global News twenty four hours a day, whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now in San Francisco.
I'm Ed Baxter, and this is Bloomberg.
Let's take a look at some of the top business stories of the hour now. While Disney posting better than expected fourth quarter earnings and said that it would seek an additional two billion dollars in cost savings, Disney's flagship theme parks delivered the biggest profit boost, with earnings rising
thirty one percent. Losses in Disney's streaming business also narrowed, and globally, the number of Disney Plus paying subscribers rose to more than one hundred and fifty million at pete analyst estimates of hundred and forty seven point four million, and so it means that signups are returning to growth. We heard earlier from Paul Verner, analyst at Insider Intelligence, saying, despite the numbers today, thinks that Bob Eiger has his work cut out for him going forward.
I think he took on this job knowing that it would be challenging, but he's face challenges that I think nobody expected, like the writers strike, and some of the softness in the ad market maybe was expected, but it's probably more of a headwind than anticipated. And really just
existential questions about the streaming business model TV dwindling. I mean, he's pretty much said he's going to sell off those traditional TV assets, but that begs the question is that going to be enough to finance the Hulu acquisition.
That's Paul Verna, an analyst. Disney shares A trading up three percent in late trading.
Well after the bell Armholdings delivered its first earnings report since the IPO results from the just ended quarter longer than forecast. We have revenue growing twenty eight percent, total top line eight hundred and six million. This is where it gets interesting. Guidance for the current quarter was disappointing on the revenue front. Here is Bloomberg's Bailey Lipshultz.
When you see their third quarter revenue view missing the midpoint, that's really a bad sign. It's back below on pace to break below that fifty one dollars IPO issuance price, which again is critical because that's where a lot of investors bought in. That's where all these stocks are going to be benchmarked against. And when you look at the results and you look at the guidance again, as you mentioned,
the smartphone business broadly speaking, has been pretty poor. This is a company that's going to have to sell investors on AI.
That is Bloomberg's Bailey Lipshultz. Now Arm did say that uncertain timing for some new licensing deals contributed to that conservative forecast for the current quarter. But if you look at the stock right now in late in New York trading, we're down by more than eight percent right.
Doug during the regular session, Eli Lilly shares gained three point two percent, and the company won't approval for its diabetes drug to treat obesity Bloomberg's and Kate's as the story.
The weight loss medication, brandon zep Bound, will cost close to eleven hundred dollars for a month's supply and will be available by the end of the year. Monjaro, the diabetes version of the same drug, could not be marketed for weight loss until it got the go ahead by
the Food and Drug Administration. Monjarro has approved last year as a treatment for adults with type two diabetes, but studies showed it helped patients lose up to twenty six percent of their body weight, or more than sixty one pounds. In Washington and Kate's Bloomberg Radio.
Well, a meeting is reportedly set for next week between President Spiden and She that will happen in San Francisco. We got to the view of Singapore's Prime Minister Lis Young Lung, who told us this face to face could dial down tensions between the US and China, especially over Taiwan.
I don't believe that they are trigger happy. They have a problem. They would like Taiwan to be part of one China, but how did from here to there? And I believe if they are not provoked, if events don't spin out of control, I don't believe that they are going to You're going to wake up one day and find that they've decided to launch d D.
The ADIA Singapore's Prime Minister Lihi Hiang Lung on a conversation or as a part of a conversation with Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwaite at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, and you can listen to more of that conversation throughout daybreak Asia.
Right, Well, we go to data in China. Now, China's consumer price inflation probably flat lined in October as overall demand lagged. Bloomberg's Rashad Salamat has a preview from Hong Kong.
The CPI reading is likely to have hovered around zero during the month. Bloomberg Economics seeing inflation rising just zero point two percent from a year ago, but our survey of market economists projects a decline of one tenth of one percent. The official gauge was flat in September. Software indicators for the month sug just domestic demand has not picked up much despite recent policy easing. Meanwhile, Bloomberg Economics
projects outright deflation for producer prices. The PPI expected to have dropped three percent year on year, more than the prime month's decline of two and a half percent. I'm Richard salamat Bloomberg Radio.
Well, it's eleven minutes past the hour, now close to look at Walt Disney earnings. Joining us now is Gita Ranganatha and Bloomberg Intelligence analyst on US Media. So revenue mostly in line, no big surprise, their profit looking pretty good though, beating expectations. That shows you that cost cutting is one of the top issues at Disney.
At the moment.
It definitely does. And you know they can't do a whole lot about revenue. I mean, those trends have been kind of challenged across the whole media landscape. But they are doing what they can control, which is cutting costs and cutting them pretty dramatically. So we saw really good numbers in terms of operating income. We saw them actually taking up their cost saving target. It's up now by two billion from five and a half to seven and
a half billion. They're reducing their cash content spend. They're moving really aggressively to kind of restructure the company. But most important, and I think this is a really critical metric, is they really guide it to a strong jump in free cash flow, almost a sixty percent jump in twenty twenty four. So they're really moving from you know, and
bab Bieger said this aptly. They said they're moving from a fix to a build phase as they positioned this company for, you know, its next phase of growth, GITA.
They are targeting two billion dollars more in cost cutting. But is all that to do is content spend? And is that wise given that they want their streaming services to do better.
Yeah, So, you know, that's a great question, Vannie. I mean, they're so they're they're Mantra and they were kind of launching their streaming product was just to go out with a whole lot of content, right, So it became more a game of volume just to kind of take on Netflix, and Barbeyger acknowledged that that might not have been the best strategy because what it did is it kind of
devalued a lot of the content. It led to a lot of franchise fatigue, people complaining they're not able to kind of follow storylines as you have, you know, multiple Marvel movies, multiple Marvel series kind of jumping back and forth. And so now their priority is really quality over quantity, and so they're looking to kind of cut their production but really focus really consolidate. What that is doing is
it's definitely driving up the programming cost savings. Of course they're taking down some non programming costs as well, but I think overall it's really kind of improving the efficiency
in the business. And they were asked even about, you know what about taking some of their non core content titles and kind of licensing it to Netflix, something similar to what Warner Brothers has done with some of their older HBO titles, whether it's Bawlers or Insecure, and kind of licensing that to Netflix and Disney said they're very
very open to doing that. So again, they're really looking to monetize content, but at the same time, they're being very very disciplined in terms of spending, you know, both content wise and non content wise.
I'm Brian Curtis along with Vonnie Quinn. Our guest is Gita ron Ganathan Bloomberg Intelligence analyst on US Media. Geita so many different angles at Disney. Hate to jump around so much, but ESPN always gets a lot of attention. We know that the streaming business, including ESPN Plus, is still losing money three hundred and eighty seven million in the quarter. That was better than expected, but they're they're
expecting to climb up into profit at some point. But what I'm really interested in is the Disney pursuit to get a partner for ESPN and what's happening on that front.
What are you hearing?
Yeah, so they said it's pretty much in the work. So there was nothing concrete that was necessarily reported during the earnings call, Brian, but they did say they did say that they are laser focused to bringing the ESPN streaming product, you know, over the next few months, you know, as they kind of work out details, they will release that, but it is it is inevitable. The transition to streaming
is inevitable at this point. Of course, that doesn't mean that they're going to completely abandon the linear TV network. The continue They're going to continue to have content there, but their major focus is going to be on the
streaming solution, and they're looking at a host of different partners. So, you know, there's been a lot of chatter about whether they wanted to want to wanted to bring in the leagues like you know, the NFL or the NBA so that they're assured of you know, a steady supply of content, or whether they want to kind of bring in a tech partner like an Apple or an Amazon, which is you know, deep pocketed, or they want to focus on distribution.
So nothing really concrete. All that Barb Bieger said was that they are working, They have had a lot of conversations, and they you know, they think that they're going to make progress very soon.
What about ABC National Geographic FX Is Eiger really looking to sell?
I think they are. So, you know, he outlined for you know, strategic priorities at the outset of the call. What he talked about was, you know, streaming profitability, the ESPN transition, you know, continued growth in parks, and he also spoke about reintegrating the movie business. So obviously linear TV is not a focus for them. It is not
a growth business. I mean, all that they're doing is they're kind of managing it to the best of their ability, you know, because it isn't it isn't secular declient, there's just no sugarcoating that. So I think he is very very open to, you know, getting rid of some of these non core assets, or or at least that's what
they refer to them as. So, I mean, we don't have any necessary specifics again Vannie on you know, whether they have actually had any discussions with anybody, but we know that he has said that everything is on the table when it comes to you know, some of the linear TV networks.
Parks another crown jewel of Disney. The parks did really well after the pandemic with all the pent up spending that came out, particularly in the US. I think it was a little less so abroad. What have we learned about how how well are the parks doing abroad?
Now? They're actually doing really really well, and actually we're seeing some of the softness now in the domestic park so early. You're absolutely right, it was the domestic parks that were outperforming. The international was still kind of challenged because of COVID restrictions. Now it's kind of reversed a little bit, so we're seeing the domestic actually softer trends. I wouldn't say it's necessarily weak, but definitely some softness
because of tough comparisons. You know, maybe the revenge travel is kind of coming to its you know, close still strong, but not as strong as before. But International is really back with a bang, and that actually contributed to a lot of you know that that thirty one percent and operating profit. A lot of that was due to International. A lot of that was due to, you know, their their strength and their cruise segment, so a lot of the other levers that they're kind of pulling in their park segment.
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Asia, your morning brief on the stories making news from Hong Kong to Singapore and Wall Street.
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And I'm Doug Chrisner. Join us again tomorrow for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg day Break Asia