Companies are gearing up for an era in which Covid-19 isn’t the primary driver of how people spend their money.
The big question: As the coronavirus situation improves in countries like the United States, which trends from the past 14 months will have staying power, and which will be resigned to the pandemic past?
Airbnb, DoorDash and Disney, which reported results after US markets closed on Thursday, provide some idea.
Airbnb update
The company said interest in travel is surging again as vaccines become more widely available, pointing to a sharp increase in bookings in the United Kingdom immediately after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans in February to gradually exit lockdown. For US customers aged 60 and above, searches on Airbnb for summer travel rose by more than 60% between February and March.
The company is also ready for more customers to use Airbnb for longer-term stays as they take advantage of greater acceptance of remote work. It said that nearly a quarter of stays last quarter were for 28 days or more, up 14% from 2019. Shares are down slightly in premarket trading.
DoorDash update
People are still ordering lots of food delivery even as restaurants open back up for traditional dining. DoorDash reported a 198% jump in revenue last quarter to $1.1 billion even as it dealt with a shortage of workers, and increased its full-year outlook.
Streaming wars cooling? Disney+ growth is slowing, just like Netflix
“As markets continued reopening and in-store dining increased across the US, the impact to our order volume was smaller than we expected, which contributed to strong performance in the quarter,” the company said, though it cautioned that may have been partially attributable to stimulus checks. Shares are up almost 9% in premarket trading.
Disney update
Streaming has carried Disney through the pandemic, with Disney+ growing to more than 100 million subscribers. Yet the biggest star in Disney’s media universe appears to be shining a little less bright, sending shares down 4%.
The company said Thursday that Disney+ now has 103.6 million subscribers, below the 110 million Wall Street was expecting. That’s forced investors to wonder: Is that because people are getting vaccinated and stepping away from streaming? Netflix also reported sluggish subscription growth last quarter.
Down but not out: Disney said it remains on track to reach its long-term subscriber goals despite the apparent slowdown. It’s betting that as the pandemic eases, it will be able to produce more movies and shows, helping to bring in new customers.
Whether it’s right will become clearer in the months ahead, which will pose the true test of whether people actually ditch their sweatpants, get out of the house and shake up the economy once again.
