The pro wrestling business is experiencing a boom, as evidenced by the newly signed U.S. broadcast television deals for WWE “Monday Night RAW” and “SmackDown Live” (worth $468 million/year), the scheduling of the largest indie wrestling event ever on September 1st (“All In”) and the news that Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling sold-out (18,500 seats) Madison Square Garden for their “G1 Supercard” in April ‘19; the first wrestling show at MSG without a McMahon promoting, since 1960. The next marquee event on the wrestling calendar is WWE SummerSlam, Sunday Night in Brooklyn. Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns are the main event; Ronda Rousey will take on Alexa Bliss for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship. Fans around the world can live-stream the event on WWE Network, August 19 at 7pm ET; there is a 30-day free trial period for all subscribers.
Howie Long-Short: Q2 ’18 was another landmark quarter for the WWE. The company posted record quarterly revenue (+31% to $281.6 million) and reported it had nearly doubled operating income (to $21.2 million) from the prior year quarter, news that sent share prices to a new all-time high ($85.93) on Thursday July 26th. The +31% revenue increase represents the company’s greatest YoY sales increase in 2 years.
In addition to strong financials, WWE reported significant growth in digital engagement; video views rose +58% YoY (to 14.4 billion) and the number of hours consumed watching WWE content across digital/social grew a staggering +71% YoY (to 509 million). The company also just crossed the 30 million subscriber threshold on YouTube, a figure that represents a larger following on the platform than that of the NBA, NFL, MLS, MLB, NHL, PGA TOUR and NASCAR combined. While YouTube subscribers don’t directly correlate into dollars, WWE Network subscriptions do; and the company reported paid subs rose +10% (to 1.8 million) during the quarter ending June 30th. Co-President George Barrios said the company plans on growing its international subscriber base by adding more localized content and languages.
WWE shares are up +/- 275% over the last 12 months, closing at $79.01 on Thursday. Concerned the WWE trades at too high a multiple (60x ’19 earnings estimates)? Consider the company trades at less than 25x ’20 earnings projections.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is owned by the Japanese card game company Bushiroad (privately-held). You can play the promotion via the Japanese television network, TV Asahi Holdings (trades under the ADR THDDY) or the Japanese music artist management company, Amuse, Inc (TYO: 4301). Both are minority shareholders. Ring of Honor is a subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG).
Fan Marino: The WWE recently announced it will host the company’s first all-women’s PPV event, entitled Evolution, on October 28th. The event, which will be live streamed on the WWE Network, will feature more than 50 female competitors from Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, NXT and NXT UK rosters. While current stars like Sasha Banks and Ronda Rousey are sure to be in attendance, so too are WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lite; both already confirmed to be participating.
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