Disney posts rare quarterly loss on COVID-19 blow

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co on Tuesday reported a rare quarterly loss as the COVID-19 pandemic pummeled its theme parks, television networks and movie studio businesses, even as the crisis helped its streaming services gain users.

The outbreak forced the company to close some of its parks globally, delay the release of films, including the much-anticipated "Mulan," while also dampening advertising on its media networks segment that includes the sports-starved ESPN.

Net loss from continuing operations was $4.72 billion, or $2.61 per share, in the third quarter ended June 27, compared with a net profit of $1.43 billion, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)