The Walt Disney Company, popularly known as simply Disney, has continued to thrive despite uncertainty in the evolving media industry in which it has flourished. Financial reports show that the American conglomerate has seen much profitability in streaming and experiencing, having a fiscal first-quarter revenue growth of 5% year-over-year in 2025. Its operating margin also grew, enabling the Disney+ platform to grow comfortably into profitability.
Disney has entered an era where its most well-known acquisitions within the public consciousness have arguably been Marvel and 21st Century Fox. While 60% of operating profit is still derived from offered experiences (theme parks, cruises, resorts), investments in other segments have been a significant part of the company’s financial health. Many may not realize that the company has long changed the trajectory of entertainment and programming by bringing more unexpected companies into the “House of Mouse.”
ESPN
ESPN remains the global leader in sports programming, the key marker that can further push Disney’s position in the streaming era. An interesting point is that Disney, via Walt Disney Television, actually got majority control of ESPN’s operations when it first acquired ABC in 1996. This partnership mostly went under the radar until more blatant collaboration through Disney+’s ESPN Hub and IP crossovers like Dunk the Halls.
What made their earlier collaborations feel more unexpected is the more family-friendly image that Disney’s televised image focused on during the noughties. In contrast, ESPN played a considerable role in the Western poker boom that turned the tide on perception toward the gambling card game. The network still had broadcast rights to the World Series of Poker (WSOP), during which then-amateur Chris Moneymaker would win the 2003 Main Event. The iconic player is now the face of US online poker, often credited for the rise in popularity of the digital medium and currently serving as the biggest ambassador for Americas Cardroom. It’s a platform known for hosting the biggest online poker tournaments and boosting the sport with events like Venom Fever and Moneymaker May-Hem.
This financial connection to Disney’s properties is fascinating, especially considering the strict no-gambling policy in Disney’s theme parks and cruise ships. Disney experiences are notoriously casino-free due to their “wholesome” image. Yet, with the recent launch of ESPN Bet, ESPN remains one of the biggest proponents of the popular pastime and career.
NVIDIA
NVIDIA is the leader in the semiconductor industry and the artificial intelligence (AI) market. The company has mainly been unrivaled in shares within the most competitive tech sectors, including the graphics processing unit (GPU) segment. In the gaming industry, they have made considerable strides in visual processing by integrating the RTX platform. This enables AI-powered features to improve performance, such as DLSS, adaptive shading, and ray reconstruction, to aid in ray tracing.
With its advancements in AI, Nvidia has turned its sights to robotics. Disney Research partnered with Nvidia and Google’s DeepMind AI lab to create an open-source physics engine, enabling robots to accomplish more complex tasks easily. Through this collaboration, Disney is making Star Wars droids a reality. Now, ‘BDX’ droids can be found roaming select Disney properties capable of free movement and expressive engagement. A fully customizable model framework called GR00T N1 will also be released to global developers to fast-track the advancement of generalist robotics.
This is a huge leap forward in bringing characters to life via machinery. With further development, it seems inevitable that the next generation will become even more lifelike.
NatGeo
Finally, people may not readily associate National Geographic with Disney because the former is often perceived as more serious and academic. It is also well-known that the National Geographic Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific research. That said, it only owns 27% of NatGeo while the Walt Disney Company owns the larger 73% share.
This makes it much easier for NatGeo programming to tap into major stars under the Disney umbrella. Marvel mainstays Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, and Jeremy Renner narrate various documentaries part of the Natural History series. Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, one of the highest-paid actors in the world, helmed the limited series Limitless as a NatGeo property that streamed exclusively on Disney+. All of these intersecting properties are available for streaming on the platform.
The expansive roster of talent that now falls under contract with Disney may seem like a worrisome sign of a burgeoning monopoly. Still, it has also paved the way for more diverse shows to be produced, a shift in audience reach, casting choices, and storytelling in various IPs that may have previously been impossible.
For more news and all things Disney, read more from The DisInsider.
