What We Learned This Week

Disney Heads to the UAE: Disney shares saw a solid boost this week following an earnings beat that showcased growth across all three of its major segments—entertainment, sports, and experiences. Perhaps the most notable highlight was Disney+ adding a net 1.4 million subscribers, a surprise gain against the company's own guidance for a decline. Disney now expects modest subscriber growth in the upcoming quarter as well, bringing its total global base to over 126 million. For comparison, Netflix sits at around 300 million, but with a significantly broader content library. Disney+ is increasingly becoming a key driver for the company alongside its iconic theme parks, given its recurring revenue model and improving margins.

On the movie front, despite some underperformance from releases like Snow White, the segment still posted growth, supported by strong showings from Mufasa and Moana 2. Another major development is Disney's announcement of a new theme park in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Miral. Set to be located on Yas Island—a major entertainment hub already home to Ferrari World, SeaWorld, Warner Bros., and an F1 track—the new park will mark Disney’s seventh global theme park destination. Strategically, it’s a prime spot with roughly a third of the world’s population living within a four-hour flight radius. Financially, it’s structured as a low-risk deal for Disney, which will collect royalties without laying out upfront capital. While the project is still years out, the potential looks promising given the track record of its other parks. All in all, this week’s developments provide a glimpse of Disney's ability to push forward in key growth areas while maintaining its global footprint.

End of an Era: We got big news out of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting this weekend—Warren Buffett is stepping down as CEO at the end of the year. As shocking as the headline reads, it was somewhat inevitable given he’s 94 years old. Still, the timing caught nearly everyone off guard, including his named successor Greg Abel, who seemed surprised by the announcement. Abel has been known as the heir apparent for some time, but Buffett had never hinted at an exact timeline. Now, the curtain is closing on one of the most storied careers in financial history. Buffett transformed Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textile business into a $1.1 trillion powerhouse, owning 189 operating companies, including giants like GEICO, Duracell, and BNSF Railroad, alongside massive public holdings in Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Apple. Under his leadership, the company posted annual returns of nearly 20% since 1965, outpacing almost every major market index.

But it’s more than just the numbers. Buffett became a cultural icon—a living legend whose influence transcended finance. Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting—dubbed the “Woodstock for Capitalists”—draws nearly 20,000 people from all over the world just to hear him talk markets, business, and life. Think about that for a second: a public company shareholder meeting, drawing a crowd like a rock concert, simply to listen to his thoughts. It’s the end of an era, no doubt. While Buffett will remain as Chairman, his daily fingerprints on the business will fade. Hats off to the greatest of all time—you’ve set the standard for generations of investors, and your legacy will last far beyond your tenure.

Tech Giants Dodge the Downturn: Tech earnings this quarter have been solid to this point. All the major players—Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon—have reported, with Meta and Microsoft standing out as clear winners. Both posted strong results across their business segments and provided encouraging full-year guidance, which helped lift the broader market late last week. The others performed reasonably well, although there were some weak spots like conservative guidance or signs of slowing consumer demand. The good news is that we didn’t see the kind of sharp slowdown that many feared would force a major rethink of the tech sector's outlook for the year. All the companies acknowledged macroeconomic uncertainty and its potential ripple effects but leaned more toward a "wait and see" approach rather than signaling any immediate crisis. Given the environment, that’s about the best outcome we could have hoped for.

That said, the broader sentiment remains cautious. Businesses are largely sticking to core operations, avoiding major capital investments until there’s more clarity, and consumer sentiment continues to drift downward. If the macroeconomic backdrop doesn’t start to improve soon, it’s likely we’ll begin to see deeper impacts not just in guidance, but in actual earnings results. For now, the takeaway is that tech is holding up, but the longer the uncertainty lingers, the greater the chance for cracks to emerge.