The Walt Disney Co.’s early release of its earnings report this month came down to a Dumbo move: The company made the information accessible on an easy-to-guess Web address.

Disney didn’t plan on posting the link on its site until after the market closed. But a reporter at Bloomberg News found it with simple Internet sleuthing and reported results about a half-hour before the scheduled release, according to a person familiar with Bloomberg’s practices. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Get the full story »