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The Walt Disney company announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with immersive destination and experiences company Miral to bring a park and resort to Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates.
This will be Disney’s seventh theme park resort and it will be fully developed and built by Miral. Disney’s imagineers will lead creative design and operational oversight on the project.
The entertainment giant will not be investing capital in the project, but will reap the benefits of royalties.

A new Disney theme park is coming to Abu Dhabi.
The Walt Disney company announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with immersive destination and experiences company Miral to bring a park and resort to Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates.

This will be Disney’s seventh theme park resort and it will be fully developed and built by Miral. Disney’s imagineers will lead creative design and operational oversight on the project. The entertainment giant will not be investing capital in the project, but will reap the benefits of royalties.
The development in Abu Dhabi is not part of the $60 billion that Disney has pledged to invest in its theme parks over the next decade.
“This is a thrilling moment for our company as we announce plans to build an exciting Disney theme park resort in Abu Dhabi, whose culture is rich with an appreciation of the arts and creativity,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger, in a statement. “As our seventh theme park destination, it will rise from this land in spectacular fashion, blending contemporary architecture with cutting edge technology to offer guests deeply immersive entertainment experiences in unique and modern ways.”
Iger, in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber on Wednesday, said imagineers have already begun designing the park. He declined to specify when the company expects the park to open.
“We’re not pinning down a date yet,” he said. “It typically takes us between 18 months and two years to design and fully develop and approximately five years to build but we’re not making any commitments right now.”

The announcement came after Disney reported a top- and bottom-line beat for its fiscal second quarter, with its experiences business — including parks, cruises and resorts as well as consumer products — reporting 6% year-over-year revenue growth.
The segment represented 37% of the company’s overall revenue in fiscal 2024 and nearly 60% of its operating income.
“Experiences is obviously a critical business for Disney and also an important growth platform,” Iger said on Disney’s second-quarter earnings conference call. “Despite questions around any macroeconomic uncertainty or the impact of competition, I’m encouraged by the strength and resilience of our business as evidenced in these earnings and in the second-half bookings at Walt Disney World.”

UAE foothold

Disney has slowly been entering the United Arab Emirates in recent years, adding retail locations and touring entertainment shows like Broadway’s “The Lion King” and “Disney on Ice.”
Iger told CNBC that the company first started eyeing the region as a potential new resort location in 2017 or 2018, but Covid and a CEO change delayed expansion into the UAE.
The company noted that around one-third of the world’s population lives within a four-hour flight of the UAE and that the region has an addressable tourism market of around 500 million visitors.

Disney CEO Bob Iger (R) and Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences, speaking on CNBC’s Squawkbox on May 7th, 2025.

“This groundbreaking resort destination represents a new frontier in theme park development,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney experiences. “Our resort in Abu Dhabi will be the most advanced and interactive destination in our portfolio. The location of our park is incredibly unique – anchored by a beautiful waterfront – which will allow us to tell our stories in completely new ways. This project will reach guests in a whole new part of the world, welcoming more families to experience Disney than ever before.”
Yas Island is a hub of entertainment and retail experiences. It is already home to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi as well as the Formula 1 Yas Marina Circuit. The area also hosts Abu Dhabi’s largest mall and an award-winning golf course.
Upon completion, the new Disney park will have themed accommodations and unique dining and retail experiences that integrate the storytelling heritage of Disney and the futuristic and cultural essence of Abu Dhabi.
“It’ll be much larger than anything that’s currently here,” D’Amaro teased on CNBC. More

Disney posted fiscal second-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat on the top and bottom lines.
Results were boosted by better-than-expected subscriber growth for its Disney+ streaming platform. 
The company upped some of its fiscal 2025 guidance and posted revenue growth in all three of its business segments.

Disney posted fiscal second-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat on the top and bottom lines, boosted by better-than-expected subscriber growth for its Disney+ streaming platform. 
The company upped some of its fiscal 2025 guidance and posted revenue growth in all three of its business segments. It separately announced a new theme park and resort in Abu Dhabi.

Shares of Disney gained about 7% in premarket trading Wednesday.
Disney, which had previously said it expected Disney+ subscribers to decline during the quarter, reported a 1.4 million increase in subscriptions to its flagship service, bringing its global base to 126 million. Wall Street had expected Disney to report 123.35 million Disney+ subscribers, according to StreetAccount. 
Disney expects a modest rise in these subscribers in its current quarter.
Revenue for its direct-to-consumer business rose to $6.12 billion, up 8% compared with the same period a year prior. Higher prices and increased subscriber numbers led to the growth, the company said.
Here is what Disney reported for the period ended March 29 compared with what Wall Street expected, according to LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.45 adjusted vs. $1.20 expected
Revenue: $23.62 billion vs. $23.14 billion

Disney now expects full-year adjusted EPS of $5.75, an increase of 16% compared with fiscal 2024. Previously, the company said it expected high-single-digit adjusted EPS growth.
Disney’s net income for the most recent quarter increased to $3.28 billion, or $1.81 per share, up from a loss of $20 million, or a loss of 1 cent per share, during the same quarter last year.
Adjusting for one-time items, including the resolution of a tax matter, among other items, Disney reported earnings per share of $1.45. 
Disney’s overall revenue was up 7% year over year to $23.62 billion.
Revenue for the entertainment segment – which includes the traditional TV networks, direct-to-consumer streaming and films – increased 9% year over year to $10.68 billion after a strong carryover from winter film titles.
While “Snow White” and “Captain America: Brave New World” underperformed, ticket sales from 2024 releases “Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Moana 2” buoyed content sales and licensing. 
Linear continued to drag on overall results, with revenue falling 13% to $2.42 billion.
Revenue for Disney’s sports segment, made up primarily of ESPN, rose 5% to $4.53 billion on higher advertising revenue. The company aired three additional College Football Playoff games and one extra National Football League game during the quarter, leading to higher ad rates and viewership.
For fiscal 2025, Disney said Wednesday it expects its sports segment’s operating income growth will be up 18% year over year, higher than the 13% growth it had previously forecast.
Over at its experiences business, which includes parks, cruises and resorts as well as consumer products, revenue rose 6% during the quarter to $8.89 billion.
Its domestic theme parks saw revenue rise 9% to $6.5 billion, while international park revenues dipped 5% to $1.44 billion.
The company attributed revenue gains to higher guest spend at its domestic parks and higher volumes on its cruise ships following the launch of the Disney Treasure.
Its consumer products division saw revenue up 4% to $949 million due to higher licensing revenue from the newly released video game Marvel Rivals.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates. More

Rivian Automotive beat Wall Street’s expectations for the first quarter and confirmed its 2025 earnings targets, but negatively adjusted its 2025 targets for vehicle deliveries and capital spending amid tariffs.
Rivian’s new guidance includes deliveries of between 40,000 units and 46,000 units, and expenditures of between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion.
The all-electric vehicle manufacturer said it is “is not immune to the impacts of the global trade and economic environment,” despite producing all of its trucks and SUVs at a factory in Illinois.

Workers assemble second-generation R1 vehicles at electric automaker Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois, on June 21, 2024.
Joel Angel Juarez | Reuters

Rivian Automotive on Tuesday beat Wall Street’s expectations for the first quarter and confirmed its 2025 earnings targets, but negatively adjusted its 2025 targets for vehicle deliveries and capital spending amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The all-electric vehicle manufacturer said it is “not immune to the impacts of the global trade and economic environment,” despite producing all of its trucks and SUVs in the U.S. at a factory in Illinois.

“The current global economic landscape presents significant uncertainty, particularly regarding evolving trade regulation, policies, tariffs, and the overall impact these items may have on consumer sentiment and demand,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders.
Rivian Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough said the company is expected to incur “a couple thousand dollars” in additional expenses per vehicle as a result of tariffs, which include a 25% tariff on imported auto parts that do not comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Rivian’s new guidance includes deliveries of between 40,000 units and 46,000 units, down from a range of 46,000 units to 51,000 units, and capital expenditures of between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion, up from previous guidance of between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion.
Rivian reconfirmed plans to achieve a “modest positive gross profit” this year, as well as $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion in losses on an adjusted basis before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization after its first-quarter results topped Wall Street’s expectations.
Here’s how the company performed in the first quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:

Loss per share: 41 cents vs. a loss of 76 cents expected
Revenue: $1.24 billion vs. $1.01 billion expected

Notably, the automaker achieved its second consecutive quarter of gross profit during the first quarter, unlocking an expected $1 billion from Volkswagen Group as part of its investment in Rivian following the formation of their joint venture Rivian and VW Group Technology LLC.
Rivian recorded a gross profit, which includes production and sales but does not factor in other expenses, of $206 million during the first quarter. That compares with $170 million during the fourth quarter.

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Rivian, Lucid and Tesla stocks

The joint venture was announced last year as part of a $5.8 billion deal that includes funding for Rivian and VW utilizing the electric vehicle maker’s software and electrical architecture.
Rivian said it ended the first quarter with $8.5 billion in liquidity, including $7.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
The company’s first-quarter results were helped by an increase in sales of automotive regulatory credits of $157 million, or roughly half the $300 million expected for the full year, as well as an increase in software and services revenues of $318 million compared with $88 million a year earlier.
On an unadjusted basis, Rivian narrowed its losses to $541 million during the first quarter. That compares to roughly $1.5 billion a year earlier and $743 million during the fourth quarter.
Rivian produced 14,611 of its electric delivery vans and “R1” SUVs and pickup trucks during the first quarter. It delivered 8,640 vehicles during that period.
The automaker reconfirmed Tuesday that production is expected to be lower during the second half of the year as Rivian idles and retools its Illinois plant for roughly a month in preparation for its new “R2” product.
The smaller, $45,000 SUV is expected to enter production during the first half of next year. Rivian is banking on the less-expensive R2 to reinvigorate demand.
Rivian’s results compare to EV rival Lucid Group, which reported mixed first-quarter results Tuesday, while reconfirming its 2025 production guidance of roughly 20,000 vehicles and capital expenditures of $1.4 billion.
Lucid reported a loss of 20 cents per share versus an expected loss of 23 cents, according to LSEG estimates, and revenue of $235 million versus an expected $249 million.

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Michelle Wie West is looking to grow women’s sports now that she’s retired from professional golf.
She is the latest athlete to invest in women’s sports platform Togethxr.
Wie West said golf is a valuable tool for building business relationships.

Former LPGA golf star Michelle Wie West is taking on a bigger role in growing women’s sports — from off the course.
On Tuesday, Wie West announced she has signed on as the latest athlete investor in Togethxr, the company behind the popular “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” slogan. Togethxr aims to increase investment in and media coverage of women’s sports, among other goals.

Wie West, the now 35-year-old Stanford grad, was the youngest player to ever qualify for an LPGA event at the age of 12. Since her playing career ended in 2023, she has turned her attention to her other passions, like investing in women’s sports.
“I’m in the perfect space right now,” Wie West told CNBC of her life after golf. “I feel like I’m in a place where I can make a difference. I have the time and space to do so.”

Michelle Wie West of the United States plays her shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on July 06, 2023 in Pebble Beach, California.
Ezra Shaw | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

The investment in Togethxr isn’t the only recent agreement Wie West has reached.
Wie West signed a multi-year deal as Mizuho brand ambassador and tournament host for the Mizuho Americas Open earlier this week. The tournament will take place at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey starting on Thursday. Mizuho’s new sponsorship agreement will raise the 2026 tournament purse to $3.25 million, one of the largest outside of the major championships.
“Golf is so important and I’m very passionate about getting more women into the game because golf is such an amazing way to open doors in the business space,” she said.

Wie West also spoke to CNBC about the future of golf, how the sport can be intimidating to learn and how she’s working with partly simulated professional golf league TGL to one day bring women into the fold.
Watch the full interview above. More

Comcast is spinning off most of its NBCUniversal cable network portfolio, including USA, MSNBC and CNBC.
The company chose the name Versant, not intended to be consumer-facing, to emphasize its role as a house of brands.
Versant will push an investor narrative of growth through digital properties and strategic acquisitions that go beyond pure media.

Comcast’s spinoff of the majority of its NBCUniversal cable network portfolio will be named Versant, the company said Tuesday, ending a monthslong process to select a new corporate moniker.
The new company chose Versant (pronounced like the root of the word “conversant”) to emphasize its versatility and its familiarity with multiple subjects, according to Chief Executive Officer Mark Lazarus, who spoke in an interview.

Versant, which had been called SpinCo until a permanent name was chosen, will own cable networks including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel. It will also house digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass and SportsEngine.
The rest of Comcast’s NBCUniversal portfolio, including the broadcast network, Peacock streaming service, Universal Studios, the theme parks and Bravo, will remain with Comcast.
The new name isn’t meant to be consumer-facing. Lazarus said he wants Versant to be viewed as a house of brands, with each asset interacting with users rather than the corporate holding entity.

Courtesy of Versant

“We’re going to focus on the individual brands that we have, not the corporate name,” Lazarus said. “This is a holding company name. It’s going to be used for business-to-business purposes.”
Versant is on track to be spun out from Comcast before the end of 2025, Lazarus confirmed. The assets held by the new company generated about $7 billion in revenue last year.

The company’s emphasis on versatility is notable given the rapidly changing media ecosystem. Lazarus will need to build a Wall Street growth narrative for investors once the company starts trading publicly. That will include making acquisitions to build on the company’s core. Some of those transactions may step outside pure media plays, he said.
Lazarus cited Golf Channel’s acquisition of GolfNow, a tee-time reservation company, as an example of how the brands can move beyond linear TV and streaming to build profitable businesses.
“Most people don’t know that GolfNow is even part of our company,” Lazarus said. “We are not going to be purely a collection of linear and digital media assets.”

Mark Lazarus at the NBCUniversal Upfront presentation from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Monday, May 13, 2024.
Charles Sykes | NBCUniversal | Getty Images

For a brand such as CNBC, that may include acquiring personal finance or fintech platforms, Lazarus said. For MSNBC, Lazarus said he’s already had some preliminary conversations about potentially buying podcasts that cater to Democrats. He noted that if the new company were to make such an acquisition the plan wouldn’t be to put that programming on air for MSNBC, but to have it operate as a separate business unit, using the cable network as a marketing funnel.
Versant will not launch its own streaming service, Lazarus said. It will instead rely on brands to develop their own digital strategies.
About 20% of the company’s revenue is already digital, Lazarus said. Versant is also likely to return money to shareholders via a dividend, CNBC reported in November.
One strategy the company isn’t likely to pursue is to acquire a group of cable networks.
Lazarus said he has little interest in accumulating more debt attached to low-growth assets. If a cable network also had associated businesses that had better growth prospects, that could be more appealing on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Versant is also unlikely to acquire TV station groups in the current regulatory environment, Lazarus said. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr told CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Monday that national news media companies including NBC are “exercising more and more control” on local TV stations, which he said is not “a good thing for the country.”

Selecting ‘Versant’

Comcast relied on marketing employees from each of SpinCo’s brands to help decide on a name.
Meetings began in late December, according to people familiar with the process. After a few weeks, the company had more than 1,000 potential names. Employees were told to focus on names that drew upon New York, cable TV or passing references to 30 Rockefeller Center, NBCUniversal’s headquarters, said the people.
The names were then filtered for legal and trademark infringement issues and other potential problems, such as a word’s definition in various languages. Comcast also hired three marketing agencies to help generate names and cull the list.
Lawyers passed through just 43 of the initial names, Lazarus said. That list was shortened to about a dozen finalists, which were then each presented to the deciding committee.
Lazarus and his marketing team chose Versant in the past few weeks. The word means “a region of land sloping in one general direction,” according to some references.
Lazarus joked that an uphill slope reminded him of “a rising stock price.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC under the proposed spinoff. More

Call it a rare win for Elon Musk. The world’s richest man, whose business empire has lately taken a beating, has long pursued a vendetta against Sam Altman, boss of OpenAI. In recent months Mr Musk, who helped found the artificial-intelligence (AI) lab but left in 2018, has sought to block its proposed conversion into a for-profit company through various methods, including an unsolicited (and unsuccessful) $97bn bid for the assets of the non-profit entity that controls it. More

The Philadelphia arena where the NHL’s Flyers and NBA’s 76ers play, currently known as the Wells Fargo Center, will be renamed the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Beginning in September the sports and entertainment venue will be known as Xfinity Mobile Arena through the 2030-2031 season.
The move comes as Comcast is putting more focus on its mobile unit.

Igor Golovniov | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The Philadelphia home of the NBA’s 76ers and NHL’s Flyers is getting a new name.
Beginning in September the sports and entertainment venue in South Philadelphia will be named the Xfinity Mobile Arena, rebranding from the current Wells Fargo Center. The new name will remain through the 2030-2031 season. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The change was announced on Tuesday by Comcast Spectacor — the division of cable giant Comcast that owns the Flyers and their home arena, among other assets — as well as Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, or HBSE, Josh Harris and David Blitzer’s investment firm that counts the 76ers, NFL’s Washington Commanders, and other sports and entertainment properties in its portfolio.
Comcast will also own the naming rights to a new arena being developed as part of a joint venture with HBSE, which is set to open in the 2031-2032 season.
The current arena, which opened its doors in 1996, last year completed a multiyear $400 million renovation project. As part of the rebranding, the arena will be upgraded with Xfinity Mobile’s Wi-Fi service for fans. Existing Xfinity Mobile customers will automatically join the Wi-Fi network at no extra cost.
The new arena moniker also comes as Comcast has told investors it’s shifting focus to its growing mobile business. Comcast, which sells its cable TV, broadband and other products under the Xfinity brand, launched the mobile business in 2017 and has seen substantial customer growth since then.
Last month Comcast reported that it added 323,000 mobile lines during the first quarter, bringing the total to roughly 8.15 million total Xfinity Mobile lines.

The business has been a bright spot as broadband customer growth has stagnated due to heightened competition in recent years.
Last quarter Comcast executives said they would focus on growing the mobile business, which had previously been seen primarily as a retention tool for broadband customers but is now a source of financial growth in its own right. During its most recent earnings call in April, Comcast executives doubled down on the shifting strategy to build out the business.
Comcast, along with most of its cable peers such as Charter Communications, only offers mobile service to those already in their customer base. The companies have been working to boost their subscriber base, with Charter focusing on various promotional offers and bundles to attract more customers.
Since cable companies have been in the mobile business for less than a decade, building out brand recognition to compete against giants like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile has been a priority to nab more customers.
Attaching the Xfinity brand to a major sports arena is sure to help elevate the brand.
“Philadelphia is home to the most passionate fans in the country, and that competitive spirit is a perfect complement to the Xfinity Mobile brand,” said Steve Croney, chief operating officer for connectivity and platforms at Comcast, in a release. “Xfinity Mobile is fueled by the largest and fastest WiFi network in America which will give our Philadelphia fans an unrivaled experience at one of Philadelphia’s legendary sports and entertainment venues.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

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Luxury carmaker Ferrari on Tuesday reported a significant upswing in first-quarter profit, citing robust demand for personalized vehicles.
The Maranello, Italy-based sports car manufacturer posted net profit of 412 million euros ($466.3 million) for the first three months of the year, reflecting a 17% increase from the same period last year.
Looking ahead, Ferrari warned that the introduction of U.S. tariffs on EU cars imported into the U.S. could negatively impact the firm’s profitability this year.

The Ferrari brand logo, the coat of arms with the lettering and a rising horse (cavallino rampante), can be seen on the rim of a vehicle from the sports car manufacturer in Munich (Bavaria) on April 6, 2025.
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Luxury carmaker Ferrari on Tuesday reported a significant upswing in first-quarter profit, citing robust demand for personalized vehicles — but warned U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy could hit earnings this year.
The Maranello, Italy-based sports car manufacturer posted net profit of 412 million euros ($466.3 million) for the first three months of the year, reflecting a 17% increase from the same period last year.

Analysts had expected first-quarter net profit to come in at 410 million euros, according to Reuters poll.
“Another year is off to a great start,” Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna said in a statement.
“In the first quarter of 2025, with very few incremental shipments year on year, all key metrics recorded double-digit growth, underscoring a strong profitability driven by our product mix and continued demand for personalizations,” Vigna said.
Looking ahead, Ferrari warned that the introduction of U.S. tariffs on EU cars imported into the U.S. could negatively impact the firm’s profitability this year.
“The [2025] guidance is subject to a potential risk of 50 basis points reduction on profitability percentage margins (EBIT and EBITDA margins), in relation to the update of the commercial policy following the introduction of import tariffs on EU cars into the USA,” the automaker said in its earnings report.

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U.S- and Milan-listed shares of Ferrari

Ferrari’s 2025 guidance includes net revenue of more than 7 billion euros ($7.93 billion), earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of at least 2.68 billion euros ($3.04 billion) and adjusted earnings per share of 8.60 euros ($9.74).
Luxury carmakers are contending with the disruptive impact of Trump’s back-and-forth trade tariff policy. Several European auto giants reported a sharp downturn in quarterly profit this earnings season, with many suspending or cutting financial guidance as Trump’s tariffs take their toll.
“At a time when many Automotive and other companies are suspending guidance due to uncertainties over the impact from US tariffs and the second order impacts on the US and global economy, Ferrari stands out,” Bernstein analyst Stephen Reitman said Tuesday in an investor note.
The president imposed a 25% tariff on automotive imports into the U.S. in early April. Trump sought to water down these levies last week, however, signing an executive order designed to prevent a range of other separate duties — such as an additional 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum — from “stacking” on top of one another.
Ferrari said in late March that it would raise prices by 10% on certain models in response to the tariffs. The move would add up to $50,000 to the price of a typical Ferrari.
“We look ahead with confidence, being vigilant of the situation that surrounds us,” Vigna told investors Tuesday during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
Shares of the Milan-listed stock traded around 0.8% lower at 12:44 p.m. London time. Shares of the U.S.-listed shares were about the same.
The automaker’s global shipments were up less than 1% during the first quarter to 3,593 vehicles. Despite the flat shipments, Ferrari’s net revenue increased roughly 13% to 1.79 billion euros ($2.03 billion) and its net profit was up 17% to 412 million euros ($466.7 million).
Regarding the debut of Ferrari’s first all-electric vehicle, a car called the Elettrica, Vigna said the company will not reveal it until spring 2026, followed by deliveries in October 2026.
Initial expectations were that the Elettrica would be revealed at Ferrari’s upcoming capital markets day in October. Instead, the company will discuss the “technological hub” of the vehicle, Vigna said.
“This is a massive piece of technology, design and unique features. It will be an exciting journey of discovery,” Vigna said regarding the staggered EV rollout. “It is the first of its kind, yet rich in every aspect that makes it true Ferrari.” More