WWE Posts Record-High Revenues, But WWE Network Subscriptions Drop 10 Percent

WWE released its quarterly earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2019 of Thursday, and the [...]

By Connor Casey

WWE released its quarterly earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2019 of Thursday, and the results are a mixed bag. To start with the positives, the company posted record-high Q4 revenues at $322.8 million, which is largely attributed to the new television deal that put SmackDown on FOX starting on Oct. 6. The company's annual revenue hit $960.4 million, which is also a new record. Now for some negatives — the WWE Network saw its subscription based drop 10% to 1.42 million paid subscribers, its consumer products division saw a $2 million drop in revenue due to poor WWE 2K20 sales and its live events revenue dropped 20 percent.

"During the fourth quarter, we expanded the reach of WWE's live programming and further engaged with diverse audiences across platforms and formats," Vince McMahon said in a press release that came with the earnings report. "We believe the value of live sports will continue to increase, particularly in today's evolving media landscape, and we are well positioned to take advantage of this trend to maximize the value of our content."

An investor's conference call will take place on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET, which will feature McMahon fielding questions. Last week saw WWE fire its co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, neither of whom are mentioned in the report. One person was was quoted was Frank Riddick, who was promoted to interim Chief Financial Officer after Barrios and Wilson's departures.

"For the year, we achieved record revenue and Adjusted OIBDA. However, with the delay in completing a Middle East distribution agreement as well as lower business performance than anticipated, our results were at the low-end of guidance," added Frank Riddick, interim Chief Financial Officer. "As we work to strengthen engagement in 2020, we are pursuing several strategic initiatives that could increase the monetization of our content, including the distribution of content in the Middle East and India as well as strategic alternatives for our direct-to-consumer service, WWE Network. Excluding the potential impact of these initiatives, we expect significant revenue growth based on the full year impact of our new content distribution agreements in the U.S. and anticipate Adjusted OIBDA of $250 to $300 million. Management believes it has the potential to exceed this range, but is unable to provide additional guidance at this time."

WWE's next pay-per-view, Super ShowDown, will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 27.

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