John Pollock and I will discuss the TKO earnings report on Thursday (May 9) on Pollock & Thurston at 3 pm ET. YouTube link here: https://youtube.com/live/VWp8qawhTMM
The following notes are repurposed from this thread.
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$TKO earnings release mentions WWE made a $25 million deal with NBCU to keep Raw on USA Network in Q4.
Seems like a bargain for NBCU. WWE’s current deal with NBCU for Raw is/was worth an average of $265M per year. A quarter of that would be $66M.
TKO reports a net loss of $250M for Q1, largely due to the $335M antitrust lawsuit settlement.
The $9M equity expense here must refer to the 96,558 shares (~$9M) awarded to Dwayne Johnson, dated the Sunday of Wrestlemania (4/7/2024). Dwayne’s Form 4 for that transaction: https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973266/000095017024043101/xslF345X05/ownership.xml…
WWE generated $316.7M in revenue for Q1. UFC generated $313M. https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001973266/a855147b-8d25-4e56-a88c-69249e33585a.pdf…
UFC continues to be more profitable, as expected.
TKO earnings release says: “In April, UFC 300 was one of the most successful and highest-grossing events in UFC history with a gate of $16.5 million and attendance of 20,067 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.” This gate figure probably includes fees. Pollstar data shows the event drew $14.9M and sold 18,245 tickets.
The Hollywood Reporter with a TKO-friendly headline
TKO Smashes Wall Street Revenue Expectations, Raises Guidance as UFC Settlement Hits Profits
TKO raised its guidance for full-year 2024:
Revenue: $2.610B to $ 2.685B, up from $2.757B to $2.650B
*Adjusted EBITDA: $1.185B to $1.205B, up from $1.150B to $1.170B
Free Cash Flow: “in excess of 40%”, down from “in excess of 50%”
*This is a non-GAAP measure of profit that should be thought of more as a performance metric, as it excludes lawsuit settlements, stock compensation. TKO defines adjusted EBITDA as: “net income, excluding income taxes, net interest expense, depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation, merger and acquisition costs, certain legal costs, restructuring, severance and impairment charges, and certain other items when applicable. Adjusted EBITDA includes amortization expenses directly related to supporting the operations of the Company’s segments, including content production asset amortization.”
CFO Andrew Schleimer says Wrestlemania in Las Vegas is tied to cash and non-cash incentives.
Schleimer calls the Elimination Chamber site fee in Perth the highest for an international PLE outside of Saudi Arabia (which is $50M each event).
Q&A begins. TKO CEO Ari Emanuel is not on the call. Only Mark Shapiro and Andrew Schleimer.
TKO President Mark Shapiro says WWE Saudi events were highly tied to Vince McMahon, but Nick Khan has built a strong relationship and hand-off from Vince of that relationship. No plans at this point for more events but they are looking at “eventizing” or “festivalizing” the existing (twice a year) events in Saudi Arabia.
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.