Disney 3Q Earnings Drop: Snow White Sees Red

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Stung by the ABC Network's 34 percent decrease in third-quarter operating income, combined with sagging home entertainment sales and decreased theme park attendance, The Walt Disney Co. has reported a 25 percent decrease in earnings for the third quarter.

Theme park spending declined 9 percent to $2.8 billion. Disney, which owns ABC, ESPN, and numerous television and radio stations and publishing houses, also saw its film studio operating income sustain a $12 million loss compared to the same period last year.

The company's stock (NYSE: DIS) is trading today at 25.33 a share, down 3.9 percent. It's getting to be a small world after all, though the company is buoyed by ESPN's acquisition of the rights to air Premier League football matches in the United Kingdom and its plans to expand its Hong Kong theme park and possibly branch out into Shanghai.

There is no truth to the rumor that 2 of the 7 dwarfs have been laid off or that Dumbo may be euthanized as a cost-savings measure.