Nintendo Stays Hot

Nintendo sold 12.5 million Switch consoles from April to September, an 81% year-over-year increase.

During the same six month period, Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold more than 14 million copies. Thanks to the success of both, Nintendo’s operating profit in the first half of its fiscal year climbed to $2.8 billion, up 209% compared to the previous year.

Nintendo has raised its forecasts and expects Switch sales to hit 24 million this year and profits to reach $4.3 billion. Shares are up nearly 40% year-to-date.

Notable Earnings Reports This Week:

11/9 — Allied Esports Entertainment, Callaway Golf

11/12 — The Walt Disney Co. 

11/13— DraftKings

ESPN Executive Vice President of Content Connor Schell is departing the company at the end of the year. Schell was a major creative force behind ESPN successes like “The Last Dance” and “OJ: Made in America.”

“As ESPN has tried to move away from live sports and expand content they own and control — nobody was more important to their future than Connor,” Lightshed media analyst Rich Greenfield told FOS.

Ryan Spoon, ESPN’s former senior vice president of social and digital content, recently left to become BetMGM’s chief operating officer. The losses at the top of the company bookend the network’s decision to lay off 300 workers and let 200 open positions remain unfilled.

COVID-19 cut last ski season short, causing Vail Resorts’ fiscal year revenue to drop 67% compared to 2019. Now, ski resorts are working to safely reopen as the coronavirus looms over the start of this season.

Vail issued $600 million in debt in May and believes it has enough cash to survive a 2021-22 shutdown if needed. Smaller resorts and outdoor retailers might not be so lucky: revenue at the family-owned Alpine Shop in Burlington, Vt., sank 50% in March.

Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont has spent $100,000 in an effort to boost online transactions. The family-owned resort aims to sell 90% of lift tickets digitally this season, up from 30% last year. Strict protocols, including masks, will likely be a familiar sight on ski slopes this winter.

Hotels in Augusta, Ga., are struggling without fans at the Masters, which begins Thursday. The missed Masters week will cost hotel owners more money than several months of COVID-related slowdowns. 

Masters week — postponed from its usual April date — normally fills up 7,200 hotel rooms and 4,000 rental home listings. At least one hotel, the historic Partridge Inn, is more than 60 days delinquent on its $15 million mortgage.

In a normal year, the golf tournament is estimated to be worth $120 million in economic impact to the city.