Tag: WWE Financials - Page 2

WWE Q2 financial report: Record revenue, Vince McMahon, media rights & Endeavor updates

Posted on August 2, 2023 by Josh Nason

As they continue down their road to a merger with Endeavor’s UFC, WWE announced on Wednesday a quarterly record of $410.3 million for the second quarter of 2023.

That is a 25% increase ($82.1 million) year-over-year (YOY), powered by the revenue from May’s Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia in addition in increased media rights fees and live event revenue.

The company also set quarterly records in operating income and adjusted OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization).

The latest on Vince McMahon

The company continues to experience financial fallout from the Executive Chairman’s alleged hush money payouts that were exposed last summer.

From their filings:

“During the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company incurred $5.3 million and $7.1 million, respectively, of expenses related to costs incurred in connection with and/or arising from the investigation conducted by the Special Committee of members of the Company’s Board of Directors, related revisions to the Company’s financial statements and other related matters.”

They noted that McMahon has continued to reimburse WWE for “all reasonable costs” related to the investigation and has paid approximately $17.4 million in reimbursements to date.

Also revealed in their filings:

“On July 17, 2023, federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant and served a federal grand jury subpoena on Mr. McMahon. No charges have been brought in these investigations.

Additionally from the The Company has received voluntary and compulsory legal demands for documents, including from federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies, concerning the investigation and related subject matters.”

Nick Khan declined to comment on this matter on Wednesday’s investors call. He did confirm that McMahon had spinal surgery and is on medical leave, adding they will respect his privacy about his health during this time.

Inside the numbers

For the quarter, the aforementioned media rights finished at $320.3 million (up from $243 million YOY) while live event revenue finished at $62 million (up from $41 million YOY). However, consumer products dipped to $28 million, down from $44.1 million in last year’s Q2, due to a decrease in licensing and ecommerce revenue as they transitioned to Fanatics.

To give an idea of the continued Saudi Arabia positive financial impact, the Other category increased to $66.5 million, up from $9.7 million YOY.

The company held 53 ticketed events this past quarter (43 domestic and 10 international) with average domestic attendance of 9900. In comparison to last year, they held 59 ticketed events (55 domestic and 4 international) with domestic attendance of approximately 6800.

Khan said it was their highest-grossing live event quarter of all time and they see no slowdown coming.

Endeavor deal

There was no news related to the specific timeline for closing the Endeavor/UFC merger. WWE did disclose some costs related to the potential merger, reporting that “For the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company’s consolidated pre-tax results included $18.8 million and $25.4 million, respectively, of expenses related to the strategic alternatives review and agreement with Endeavor.”

Khan said on the investors call that the process hasn’t been easy, but it also hasn’t been difficult. He did not give a specific month in which they expect the deal to be approved by regulators.

Media rights

There is still no further news on domestic media rights for Raw, SmackDown and NXT other than Khan saying they are continuing to talk to various players, including in the OTT (over the top) streamer space in addition to traditional companies.

When asked why the process is taking longer than last time, Khan said it’s due to the larger starting price for rights. He is confident in where they will end up, citing “significant interest” and that things are “progressing well.”

When asked about potentially splitting up how their broadcasts are aired between linear and streaming, he said that will be up to whoever owns the rights, citing the NFL and how their partners make content available to viewers.

PPV/PLE viewership increases

All three of the PPVs/PLEs that fell in the Q2 timeframe saw significant increases in “global unique viewership.” They didn’t break out Peacock as they have in past quarterly updates.

WrestleMania: up 29% year-over-year
Backlash: up 34% year-over-year
Night of Champions: up 45% year-over-year

Other notes:

Khan said they have already set a record in booked sponsorship dollars for the year.
Khan said their ad share deal with Twitch pays WWE talent more than if they were on their own. He expects bigger things out of that partnership as time goes on and after the Endeavor deal closes.

Wrestling Observer Live: AEW and WWE business success, Wembley, NXT TV report, more

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including business success for both AEW and WWE, NXT TV report from this past week, the odd story of the ratings for the DRAFT, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

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WWE Q1 financials: Ticket revenue & attendance jumps, media rights negotiating window

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Josh Nason

This post will continue to be updated as the investor call begins at 8:30 AM Eastern. Please check back and refresh for updates.

WWE announced $297.6 of revenue and operating income of $53.1 million on Tuesday for the first quarter of 2023 — their first such report since the news of their hopeful merger with Endeavor to spin off into a new combat sports company with the UFC.

The previously announced details of the merger were listed in the release and discussed on Tuesday morning’s investors call. It is still expected to close in the second half of the year.

The revenue number was down by 11% year-over-year (YOY) due to “to a shift in the timing of the staging of a large-scale international event, which occurred in the first quarter of 2022 but is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2023.”

That event is their bi-annual show in Saudi Arabia. Believed to be recognized in the Other category in their Media revenue section, that number was $4.8 million this past quarter compared to $60.8 million in Q1 last year.

During the Q&A portion of the investors call, WWE CEO Nick Khan revealed that the exclusive media rights negotiating window for both Fox and NBCU for SmackDown & Raw was “about a month each.”

As that window opened on April 1st, that would indicate more news could be coming soon as related to outside parties being able to bid. Khan said while talks have been productive, there’s no timetable for when new deals could be done while remaining positive on the prospects for both.

When it comes to interest from outside parties, Khan reiterated “exclusive means exclusive” regarding the negotiating window.

Ticket revenue & attendance increases

The company touted Q1 North American ticket sales revenue as increasing by 52% year YOY thanks to a 37% increase in average attendance. Overall revenue was $32.6 million, up from $23.1 million in Q1 last year. $30.2 million of that revenue was attributed to North America, up from $19.9 million in Q1 last year.

There were 50 ticketed events in North America last quarter with attendance of 7850. Last year, they held 53 total events (52 domestic and one international) in the same quarter with North American attendance at 5710 average.

That revenue, plus contractually escalated media rights fees for Raw and SmackDown, helped offset the decrease. Those fees accounted for $153.9 million, up from $139.1 in Q1 of last year.

Vince McMahon

WWE incurred $1.7 million in expenses for Vince McMahon-related legal fees in connection with a dropped shareholder lawsuit.

McMahon made a payment of $17.4 million to reimburse WWE for costs related to the Board’s Special Committee investigation into his scandal from last summer.

The success of WrestleMania

Per the norm, WrestleMania was a major focus even though it happened in Q2. As previously announced, 161,892 fans generated a gate of $21.6 million and the weekend was both their highest-grossing and most attended in company history. More than $20 million in sponsorship money was generated which doubled last year’s record.

Domestic unique viewership on Peacock increased 31% YOY while global unique viewership increased by 29%.

Merchandise sales were also up 20% YOY, beating last year’s record. On the call, Khan said sales were $7 million, breaking last year’s record of $5.2 million.

WrestleMania sponsorship revenue exceeded $20 million, more than double the previous record set in the prior year.

Other quarterly highlights & release notes:

Seven percent viewership increases for both Raw and SmackDown, “significantly outperforming overall cable and broadcast television, which declined 15% and 6%, respectively”
The previously announced expansion of their Fanatics deal which gives them on-site event merchandise management starting this month.
Consumer product revenue increased to $39.3 million, up from last year’s $32.2 million in Q1.

Q&A session:

Khan, CFO Frank Riddick and Paul Levesque were guiding the call. Khan and Riddick gave presentations while Levesque did not.
Riddick said they expect to save between $50-$100 million post-merger.
Khan said the success of Elimination Chamber in Montreal was strategic as they are negotiating with Rogers on a renewal of TV rights in Canada that was first signed in 2014.
Khan said the renewal on WWE media rights with Sony in India will be worked on following Sony’s merger with Zee.
Levesque attributed the higher viewership to assembling “the right team across the board” and how they are focused on character development. He specifically mentioned looking a year out and planning backward from where they want to be.
Khan said WWE will be unaffected by the Writers Guild strike and that includes any A&E programming.
When asked about potential international acquisitions, Khan said the three current focuses are closing the Endeavor deal, US media rights and building the existing business.
Khan said he expects sales and sponsorship to grow post-merger, but there has been no reach-outs to UFC sponsors as of now.
Khan said more sections are being opened up for SummerSlam at Detroit’s Ford Field for ticket sales.
Khan confirmed WWE received “a seven figure subsidy” for bringing Backlash to Puerto Rico this weekend. That was previously reported as $1.5 million by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.

Wrestling Observer Live: Nick Khan’s appearance on CNBC, WWE financials

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Mike Sempervive

Wrestling Observer Live with Mike Sempervive is back, and as always there’s a lot to get into, including the release of WWE’s 2022 quarterly and year-ending financial reports, Nick Khan’s appearance this morning on CNBC’s Squawk On The Street, and the continuing specter of a sale.

Plus, a look at tonight’s WWE Smackdown and AEW Rampage, JCW announces full J-Cup card, ratings news, and more. A fun show as always, so check it out~!

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WWE Q4 financials: Record achievements, Vince McMahon praise

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Josh Nason

This post has been updated with notes from the investor call and subsequent Q&A.

WWE’s financial dominance remains unmatched in the industry with the company announcing record-breaking yearly revenue and another strong quarter to end the year.

Ahead of their quarterly investors call Thursday afternoon, the company released their reports and touted a company-best $1.3 billion in net revenue — an increase of 18% year-over-year (YOY). Their operating income also increased to a record $283.8 million, up 11% YOY.

The record numbers were fueled by their various rights deals with NBCUniversal and Fox for both Raw, SmackDown and domestic WWE Network rights. Additionally, they enjoyed a full year of ticketed shows and their return to Saudi Arabia this past fall.

The other category of media revenue, which contains the revenue from the Saudi show and additional programming, was up to $148.5 million from $73.5 million YOY.

Their media revenue increased by roughly $97 million YOY. In the case of live events, revenue increased to $123.1 million YOY from 2021’s $57.8 million. Consumer product revenues were up by roughly $33 million YOY.

The company did 231 total ticketed live events in 2022: 218 domestic and 13 internationally. The domestic shows averaged 6100 for attendance. Those numbers are up from 2021’s 101 total ticketed events (88 domestic/13 internationally) with an average of 6900 in attendance.

Quarterly success

For the last quarter of 2022, WWE generated revenues of $325.3 million — an increase of 5%. The increase (due to “network revenues related to the timing of premium live events as well as higher monetization of third-party original programming”) were offset by declines in consumer product licensing and online sales in addition to the staging of the event in Saudi Arabia this past year and the prior year.

Operating income for the quarter decreased by 22% to $62.7 million due to content creation costs, the Board’s Special Committee investigation into Vince McMahon, and a higher stock compensation expense.

The report noted there was $2.3 million (Q4) and $21.7 million (2022) “associated with certain costs” related to the Board investigation into McMahon in addition to $7.4 million in expenses “related to certain payments to be made by the Company’s controlling stockholder.”

Media revenue was up to $279.7 million YOY, buoyed by increased WWE Network license fees that were up to $47.1 million YOY and the “Other” category (powered by the Saudi show) that increased to $61.7 million.

While live events were up slightly to $23.8 million YOY, consumer product revenue dipped to $21.8 million from $32.6 million YOY.

During the quarter, WWE held 61 ticketed events: 54 domestically and seven in international markets. In 2021, they did 57 total ticketed events: 48 domestically and nine in international markets. Average attendance was approximately 5500 for the North American shows, up from 2021’s 5200 average.

The decrease in consumer product revenue was chalked up to a decrease in both licensing (down to $12.3 million from 2021’s $18.1 million) and ecommerce revenue (down to $5 million from 2021’s $11 million). Venue sales were up by $1 million YOY

Big domestic viewership increases for PPVs

The company stated last November’s Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, headlined by Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul, was WWE’s most viewed international event ever with a 70% YOY increase on Peacock.

Both Extreme Rules (36% YOY increase) and Survivor Series (46% YOY increase) broke domestic records for most viewership as well.

While not in Q4, they still reported numbers on last Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble. They experienced a 52% YOY increase in domestic viewership with the highest gate in Rumble history.

Call Notes: TV, Vince & Stephanie praise

Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and Frank Riddick conducted the call. Khan acknowledged Vince McMahon’s return to the company as did Levesque later on, saying having McMahon around “has been great” and having him back, even just at the Board level, is a “tremendous asset” to the company.
Khan also gave praise to Stephanie McMahon in referencing her exit from the company.
Khan acknowledged the exploration of a sale without saying the word “sale” and that they were reviewing all options for shareholder value. What they are looking for with a partner and how the sale could affect media rights came up consistently during the Q&A portion.
Khan said that McMahon’s inclusion in running WWE wouldn’t be a factor with a sale and that he would step down and not be involved if it meant more for shareholder value.
Any sale would honor the existing NBCU & Fox deals. The first renewal rights window begins after WrestleMania.
When talking about NBCUniversal, Khan said he really liked the “cadence” of their WWE promotion and the ability to move Raw to different networks when pre-emption is needed, citing the Winter Olympics example.
Khan said WWE set gate records for both Raw and SmackDown in more than 20 cities in 2022.
Khan said more than 12,000 tickets have been sold for February’s Elimination Chamber in Montreal.
Khan said WWE expects bigger success with sponsorship revenue in 2023 and are off to a strong start with Royal Rumble sales nearly tripling and that sponsorship revenue is up 98% thus far YOY.
Khan said they are exploring selling rights to “ring assets” (think ring apron, turnbuckles, mat).
Khan said Mountain Dew/Pepsi came to them wanting to sponsor a match. His team then went to Levesque and asked what could be done.
Khan says more companies are interested in WWE media rights than last time around (two).
NBCUniversal and USA Network are “thrilled” with NXT’s performance and WWE internally is happy with its growth.
An advance of their delayed plans in India appears to be on tap for April if regulatory issues are resolved there. Khan said the pandemic really delayed some plans there.

November 7, 2022 Observer Newsletter: WWE Q3 financials, surprises on AEW Dynamite

Posted on November 4, 2022May 16, 2024 by Dave Meltzer

WWE announced its third quarter financials on 11/2, with $304,640,000 in revenue and $41,620,000 in profits.

Revenues solidly beat Wall Street expectations of $280.1 million, but profits were slightly below the expectations of $43.3 million.

Last year in a similar quarter the revenues were $255,853,000 but profits were $43,486,000.

Revenues were up 19.1 percent from the third quarter of last year, while profits were down 4.3 percent. The revenue increase was largely $15.4 million in contractual increases for distribution for Raw, Smackdown, and NXT and another $14.6 million for production of other original programming (reality shows, A&E shows, etc), as well as the combination of the live gate, merchandise, and site fee paid by the city of Cardiff for the Clash of the Castle show, which as a live event, did numbers almost identical to each night of WrestleMania in Dallas.

It was the largest third quarter for revenue in company history, as would be expected, as with most of the revenue coming from guaranteed media contracts that have annual escalators written in, every quarter should be expected to set a new record.

Subscribers can read this week’s issue here.

WWE moves up third-quarter financial report date

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Joseph Currier

WWE will be reporting its third-quarter financial results one day earlier than expected.

A press release issued on Monday announced that WWE will now release its third-quarter financial results after the stock market closes on Wednesday, November 2. The investors conference call will be held that day at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

The conference call was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday, November 3 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, but it’s been moved up “due to a scheduling issue in connection with the upcoming premium live event, Crown Jewel.”

Crown Jewel is being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 5. WWE will be traveling to Saudi Arabia next week for the event. Due to that, the November 4 episode of SmackDown is being taped a week in advance.

Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship will headline the Crown Jewel PPV.

WWE’s full press release announcing the change for the financial report date is available below:

WWE announced that its third quarter 2022 conference call has been rescheduled to Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. ET, from the previously announced time of Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. ET, due to a scheduling issue in connection with the upcoming premium live event, Crown Jewel. The Company will issue a press release reporting its results after the close of the market on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

All interested parties are welcome to listen to a live webcast that will be hosted through the Company’s web site at corporate.wwe.com/investors. Participants can access the conference call by dialing 855-200-4993 (toll free) or 323-794-2092 from outside the U.S. (conference ID for both lines: 5826559). Please reserve a line approximately 10 minutes prior to the start time of the conference call.

The earnings presentation referenced during the call will be made available on November 2, 2022 at corporate.wwe.com/investors. A replay of the call will be available approximately two hours after the conference call concludes and can be accessed on the Company’s web site.

Wrestling Observer Radio: CM Punk & Jon Moxley promo, ratings, G1 finals

Posted on August 20, 2022March 31, 2025 by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio talking all the latest news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter including WWE’s financials for Q2, AEW and WWE ratings, and the NXT UK releases.

We also discuss some of the frustration backstage at AEW, the CM Punk and Jon Moxley promo, MJF’s situation, and more.

We talk about the great G1 Climax final match between Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay and Wrestle Kingdom news. Then we preview UFC 278.

Join us for All Out weekend at Dave and Bryan’s Q&A.

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WWE Q2 finances, Vince McMahon investigation costs, investor call notes

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Josh Nason

The following was updated at 10 AM Eastern Tuesday.

WWE announced 2022 second quarter revenues of $328+ million, an increase of over $63 million from the same time period in 2021.

Additionally, the “substantially complete” investigation into now-former chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, including how much they anticipate the investigation to cost, was also addressed.

The numbers were released in a 10-Q filing Monday night. followed by a Tuesday morning call.

The reason for the Q2 call being delayed is the changes the company is needing to make to past financial statements due to unrecorded expenses by McMahon.

In the filing, they addressed the recent investigation:

As previously announced, a Special Committee of independent members of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Special Committee”) was formed to investigate alleged misconduct by the Company’s former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Vincent K. McMahon. Mr. McMahon resigned from all positions held with the Company on July 22, 2022 but remains a stockholder with a controlling interest. The Company has received, and may receive in the future, regulatory, investigative and enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or demands arising from, related to, or in connection with these matters. The Special Committee investigation is substantially complete. In addition to the foregoing, from time to time we become a party to other lawsuits and claims. By its nature, the outcome of litigation is not known, but the Company does not currently expect this ordinary course litigation to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

Because of the investigation, WWE has suspended its stock repurchase program.

As noted in the report, they spent $1.7 million in Q2 in general/admin expenses for the investigation and “currently anticipate spending approximately $10 million during the remainder of the year related to this investigation,” noting the related costs could exceed that.

Thus far, McMahon paid $2.2 million this year and $1.2 million during the first six months of 2021. He has paid, or will pay, the total of $19.6 million of unrecorded expenses.

Inside The Numbers

Net media revenue was up to $328+ million, up from last year’s $265 million in Q2. Live event revenue ($41+ million up from $9.2 million) and consumer products ($44 million up from $22 million) were the primary drivers. Of that, North American ticket sales were at $34.9 million, up from last year’s $6.6 million when they held just WrestleMania in Tampa, Florida.

Total live attendance for the quarter was 400,300 over 55 events — up from 40,400 last year (two nights of WrestleMania in Tampa). Average North American attendance was 6800 while four international events drew an average of 6550. Live event venue merchandise did $7.3 million.

The release of WWE 2K22 brought in $5.6 million in licensing revenue while trading cards and collectibles helped generate $3.1 million.

WWE will continue to spend on content creation, noting that in the first six months, they spent just under $20 million for A&E, Miz & Mrs., WWE Evil and other shows for the WWE Network, compared to $9.1 million the year prior. They anticipated spending between $20-$30 million on content the rest of the year.

In term of “content production incentives,” they received $4 million this year with an expected $10 million coming in the rest of the year.

MLW

WWE addressed the ongoing lawsuit from MLW, who is claiming WWE interfered with a potential Tubi deal and their Vice TV deal, saying they had moved to dismiss the lawsuit in March with MLW filing their response in April.

“The Company believes that all claims in the lawsuit are without merit and intends to defend itself vigorously against them,” it wrote.

Investor Call Notes

Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and Frank Riddick were on the call. McMahon respectfully addressed the “retirement” of Vince McMahon in her opening remarks while Riddick later accurately called it a resignation.

As part of her list of things to go over, McMahon talked about the year-over-year unique viewership increases on Peacock for WrestleMania (60%), Backlash (49%) and Hell in a Cell (45%).

During the call, she said she wasn’t forced to come back as co-CEO but offered.

Khan again showed optimism for the future rights deal, citing streamers getting into the “live” game and recent rights increase for sports properties. He was asked about packaging the upcoming second day rights to Raw along with the new rights, and he said it’s a delicate balance of monetizing things short-term and long-term.

Levesque said he is looking at everything from top to bottom creatively with “first day thinking” and is confident with the team they have in place. He thinks fans are already seeing some positive momentum. He also touted the company’s NIL program and that the average age of the talent at the PC is 23. They signed 50 new developmental talents the first half of the year.

He said over 90,000 tickets have been sold thus far for both nights of WrestleMania in SoFi.

They said they got a subsidy from Cardiff, Wales, to hold Clash at the Castle — something they are going to look to do with other host cities for major events in the future. Between the subsidy, ticket sales and in-venue merchandise, Clash is going to be “very profitable” for them.

WWE to announce second quarter financial results on Tuesday morning

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Joseph Currier

Following a delay due to the Vince McMahon scandal, WWE is ready to announce its second quarter financial results.

WWE issued a press release today announcing that it will report its second quarter 2022 financial results this Tuesday (August 16). The report will be released before the stock market opens, with an investors conference call set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

On August 11, WWE submitted a filing notifying the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) that it would be late in reporting its second quarter financial results. The delay was because WWE uncovered two additional payments Vince McMahon agreed to make it 2007 and 2009. The payments were worth a combined $5 million, bringing the total amount of uncovered payments up to $19.6 million.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that McMahon had agreed to pay more than $12 million to four different women over the past 16 years to “suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.”

WWE has determined that the payments should have been recorded in the company’s financial statements. In addition to releasing its second quarter 2022 report, WWE is revising its 2019, 2020, and 2021 financial reports and its report for the first quarter of this year to account for the payments.

All of the payments were or will be paid by [Vince] McMahon personally.”

McMahon announced his retirement from WWE on July 22. Tuesday morning’s investors call will be the first of WWE’s new era.

Wrestling Observer Live: Big E., AEW ticket sales, WWE huge business, Dave Meltzer interview

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez is back with tons to talk about including an update on Big E., AEW sells out their New Japan joint show immediately, Dave Meltzer talks WWE business and the PPV main event for Sunday, your feedback and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

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WWE financials: Record-breaking Q1 revenue, multiple bidders expected for TV rights

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Josh Nason

In what is becoming old hat, WWE announced another record-breaking quarter on Thursday, hitting a record $333.4 million in revenue in the first three months of 2022 — a year-over-year increase of 27%.

They also announced an operating income increase of $92.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 42%.

WWE’s stock was down over 3% for the day at $59.49 at the market closes. However, all U.S. markets were also down for the day.

Key discussion points from today’s conference call can be found further below.

Revenue increase drivers

The major driver for the increase was their media rights which increased $36 million year-over-year, thanks to the February Saudi Arabia Elimination Chamber show. Live events were up $23.1 million from just $500,000 a year ago while consumer products increased $11 million.

The WWE2KK video game was part of the consumer products increase ($20 million vs. $11 million year-over-year) in addition to $4.5 million of live event merchandise sales offsetting a $2.3 million dip in ecommerce revenue.

Among the highlights they mentioned in their supporting press release was their multi-year expansion of content for A&E which will see 130+ new hours of WWE-themed series and specials; their MENA region broadcast deal with MBC Group; their long-term e-commerce and licensed merchandise deal with Fanatics; and the release of the WWE 2K22 video game.

WrestleMania 38 highlighted

While the event didn’t happen until the second quarter, WWE did highlight WrestleMania as they usually do, claiming 156,352 combined fans were in AT&T Stadium over two nights. It was both their highest-grossing and most-attended event in WWE history.

They also said domestic unique viewership was up 61% year-over-year with global unique viewership up 54%, making it the most viewed “premium live event” in company history.

Of note, viewership in India hit a record 56.1 million views, a 29% year-over-year increase.

Attendance

WWE held 53 total live events in Q1, all of one (Saudi Arabia) held in the U.S. Average attendance was 5700 which is down from 6300 in Q1 of 2019 which is the last time they had live events for a full quarter.

Here are some notes from the quarterly investors call:

Vince McMahon was on the call briefly to kick things off, going through some of the major successes including “a stupendous WrestleMania.”
Nick Khan touted how well WWE is doing on Peacock despite the streaming industry audience now shrinking and stabilizing in terms of growth. He said they are reaching new fans on the service and reaching a new audience. They are confident the company viewership there will continue to grow and that 1/3 of Peacock accounts watched some programming during Mania week.
Khan said to expect news on the next Saudi Arabia show soon.
Khan said 20 episodes of WWE Rivals are coming to A&E in addition to some post-shows for certain A&E Biography episodes featuring the star featured in the show. It’s part of the aforementioned 130 hours of programming in the deal.
Khan said that when WWE enters next round of TV rights negotiations, they will have more potential buyers than last time. He feels it’s a matter of time before Netflix is interested in live programming, citing Apple and Amazon’s recent pushes in that area.
When asked about bundling Raw and SmackDown in a deal, Khan said that “can be a powerful tool” and that they will talk to both NBCU and Fox before deciding how to proceed.
He feels a robust international market awaits for WWE rights, citing the Peacock success in the U.S. They are in “deep talks” in many territories. and also mentions everyone is waiting on India cricket rights to gauge what’s happening there.
Stephanie McMahon said sponsorship accounted for more than $10 million the last quarter — a 50+% increase year-over-year.
She also mentioned gaming as a big strategy for their future, something that has come up on calls before. She cited a survey where 80% of WWE fans identify themselves as gamers.
She said they signed a new deal in the RPG space that will be announced soon, and are continuing to look into the Metaverse.
CFO Frank Riddick said there’s no decision as of yet when it comes to the expansion of Performance Centers globally, but they are looking at it.

WWE announces Middle East & North Africa broadcast deal

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Josh Nason

WWE announced their long-discussed and long-awaited broadcasting deal in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) Wednesday in a partnership with MBC Group.

No financials were disclosed.

The deal will see MBC’s Shahid streaming/on demand service become the home for WWE programming beginning next weekend with WrestleMania 38 from Dallas, Texas.

All premium live shows, in addition to live Raw and SmackDown episodes and more than 10,000 hours of WWE Network library content, are included in the deal. Shahid will create a dedicated WWE channel on its service for the on-demand content which will include next-day availability for NXT’s weekly show.

There is also a free TV element of the partnership as one-hour recap shows of Raw and SmackDown will air on MBC’s free-to-air TV channel in addition to WWE Main Event and Afterburn.

The live Raws and SmackDowns will be in Arabic while the one-hour versions will feature Arabic subtitles.

A broadcast deal in the MENA region has been asked about or discussed on nearly every WWE quarterly investors call for the past few years. WWE resumed their bi-annual Saudi Arabia supershows in October 2021.

WWE stock closed at $60.82 per share Tuesday and the market has yet to open as of this writing.

WWE’s Vince McMahon gets raise, Nick Khan gets $7.5 million equity increase

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Josh Nason

A Friday SEC filing revealed that both WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and WWE president and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan will be getting more money this year.

In the Form 8-K (a “current report” required by the SEC for announcing major events company shareholders should be made aware of), it said that WWE’s Compensation and Human Capital Committee approved the following changes:

McMahon’s salary was increased to $2 million per year, up from $1.4 million the year prior. For the calendar year of 2022, McMahon’s “target management incentive plan bonus was set at 250% of his salary ($5 million) and his grant of performance stock units has a target value of $11 million.”

While Khan’s salary remained at $1.2 million, the second portion of his sign-on equity grant was increased by $7.5 million. He initially got a signing bonus of $15 million of value in stock with 40% vesting in this September and the rest vesting in 2025.

Additionally, Khan’s “target management incentive plan bonus was set at 158% of his salary ($1.9 million) and his grant of performance stock units has a target value of $3.575 million.”

According to WWE’s bylaws, “management incentive plan bonuses and performance stock units are governed by the terms of our 2016 Omnibus Incentive Plan.”

Additionally, Kevin Dunn was given 181,192 shares of class A stock currently worth around $10 million that will vest in five years.