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Pay-TV provider Fubo posted mixed fourth-quarter results and highlighted its pending acquisition by Disney during a conference call with Wall Street analysts.
Revenue ticked up 8% in the period ended Dec. 31 compared with the year-ago period, hitting $433.8 million. Net losses per share narrowed to 2 cents from 18 cents in the year-earlier quarter.
Fubo ended the quarter with nearly 1.7 million subscribers. Subscribers overall in 2024 rose 4% from 2023, though the company predicted a dip in the first quarter due in large part to a carriage dispute with TelevisaUnivision. Fubo said it will end the first quarter with between 1.43 million and 1.46 million subscribers.
Investors were discouraged by the news and executive commentary, sending shares of Fubo down 20% in early trading to about $2.82. The stock had been beaten down for the past couple of years but more than tripled after news of the Disney deal emerged in early January.
CEO David Gandler reminded those on the call that Disney’s acquisition of a majority stake in Fubo still faces regulatory review. Once the deal closes (by the first half of 2026, the companies estimate), he said Fubo and Disney’s Hulu + Live TV offering will continue to operate as separate entities and Gandler will remain as CEO of Fubo, heading the existing management team. Fubo and Hulu Live will together be the No. 6 pay-TV operator in the U.S., which will enable it to “offer more competitive programming at a more competitive price,” along with “more consumer choice,” Gandler said.
The Disney deal was part of a settlement of Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, who were joining forces to launch streaming service Venu Sports. After a federal judge ruled in Fubo’s favor, blocking the planned launch of Venu in 2024, the venture was scrapped by its backers in January, two days after the settlement.
Joining forces with Disney is “a game-changing opportunity to establish a leading streaming company that prioritizes consumer choice, flexible packages, and a cutting-edge experience,” Fubo said in its quarterly shareholder letter. “We will continue to provide periodic updates as the transaction progresses.”
Asked during the call about how it plans to negotiate carriage terms with Disney, which is getting set to launch ESPN Flagship, Gandler said there have been “no issues at all with Disney. We’re continuing to run our business in the ordinary course. We have a relationship. We have a licensing and distribution deal with them for multiple years and we will continue to distribute Disney channels per the contract.”
One initiative coming into focus for later this year, the letter noted, is the planned fall launch of a “Sports & Broadcasting” package tailored to sports fans. The service will fulfill the original mission of Fubo, which argued in its lawsuit that it had set out years before Venu to offer a streamlined pay-TV bundle designed for sports-focused viewers, only to be thwarted by programmers insisting that it carry non-sports networks.
The comments will be the first from top execs since early January when the lawsuit was settled, the Disney acquisition was announced and Venu Sports was abandoned.
