Disney (DIS) shares surged 6% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the entertainment giant reported better-than-expected results and said it's investing $1.5 billion in Fortnite maker Epic Games, in its biggest push into videღo games yet.

The companies will work together to create a gaming "universe" that uses Disney characters and stories, according to a statement released in tandem with Disney's earnings Wednesday. This gaming experience will be interconnected with Epic's popular melee fighting game Fortnite.

Disney CEO B♛ob Iger said the company is making the move because younger generations are spending large p♊ortions of time with video games.

"We think we can turn this into a good solid business in terms of the bottom line," Iger said in an interview on CNBC. "We're not giving guidance on that but we do expect it to be nicely accretive for this company once we launch this universe."

The pair have collaborated in the past as Marvel and Star Wꦐar🌳s characters have appeared in Fortnite.

The company also reported diluted earnings per share that topped analysts' expectations and revenue that was just shy of projections.

Cost Cuts Boost the Bottom Line

Iger said that Disney's cost-cutting initiatives were a key reason for the strong bottom-line performance. He said that Disney is on track to exceed the $7.5 billion cost-cutting target the company set a year ago, noting that cost cuts had a $500 million positive impact on the bottom line during the fourth quarter.

Iger has 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:come under pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz and his Trian Fund Management to make significant changes at the company. Peltz, who aims to join the board along with former Disney chief financial officer Jay Rasulo, has criticized Disney's financial and share price performance, citing strategic missteps by the board.

Iger told CNBC he has no plans to speak with Peltz. "The last thing that we need right now is to be distracted, in terms of our time, our energy, by an activist or activists that, frankly, have a completely different agenda and don't understand our company, its assets, even the essence of the Disney brand," Iger said.

Going Where Consumers Are Going With Streaming

The Disney CEO also addressed the just-announced 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:sports streaming partnership that the company's ESPN unit entered into with Fox (FOXA) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

"I think this is a step that we felt was one that we not only wanted to take, but one that we really should take given what we know sports fans want and given what we see with the current multi-channel ecosystem," Iger said, referring to the decline of the linear television business.

Still, Iger said Disney is committed to linear TV, saying the business remains profitable. "We're investing in it in terms of the channels we own. We're running them more efficiently but we're still in that business," he said. "But we also have to be mindful of where the consumer is now and where the consumer is going."

Shares of Disney were up 6% at $105.10 about two hours after the clo💎sing bell.