"The Cost of COVID-19 So Far? $30 billion of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization in 2020." That is the title of a Tuesday report from Credit Suisse analyst Douglas Mitchelson. "Cumulatively, since the start of the COVID crisis, we have taken $19 billion, or 35 percent, out of our media earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization [estimate for the year]" to $35.8 billion, he explained.
That includes such companies as Walt Disney, whose theme parks have been hit hard by the pandemic, Fox Corp. and ViacomCBS. "While we have media EBITDA rebounding 26 percent in 2021, even after this performance it would still be 18 percent below 2019 levels," the analyst said.