Coronavirus hits Walt Disney with $1.4 billion profit cuts, Shanghai amusement park to reopen on May 11

New York [USA]: Walt Disney estimated on Tuesday that global measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic has cut down the company’s profits by USD 1.4 billion, mostly from its shuttered theme parks, with more to come as executives detailed how the economic fallout would affect every part of its business for the foreseeable future.

The total operating income for the first quarter that ended on March 28 fell by 37 per cent from a year earlier to USD 2.4 billion, the world’s largest entertainment company told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, while revenue rose by 21 per cent to USD 18 billion.

The business impact of the pandemic will likely be even more pronounced in the current quarter. Shutdowns that first began in Asia became more widespread globally only in the final few weeks of Disney’s fiscal second quarter.