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WWE held an investor conference call today to discuss the third quarter numbers which were released this morning. You can read the numbers at this link. Participating in the call were Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon, Chief Financial Officer George Barrios and Chief Operating Officer Donna Goldsmith.
Vince opened with a statement, saying they had a "relatively good quarter" and said he feels live attendance is one of the "big barometers" of success, and that increased. He said live attendance and TV ratings show they are strong right now. He didn't mention the PPV decline.
Vince said they have revised their strategy for making films, and that they will now be making films that cost $5 million "all in" and commented that no one should be buying their stock solely based on the film basis. Vince noted it was just an "extension" of what they do.
Vince said he had some family notes to address, and mentioned Linda McMahon's senate hopes, and that she is no longer CEO, but is still on the board for the company.
Vince then said "The other aspect of family, because some people perceive this to be a family business, but I do not. But none the less, my son Shane, as well, has decided to pursue other opportunities in the marketplace. Nonetheless, I've mentioned before that the strength of our management team, is stronger now than it has ever been. And if your last name is McMahon or not, decisions are always made on your abilities, in terms of whatever position you hold now and/or will in the future, and be judged on your performance, not because your last name is McMahon. So, I'm pretty strong on that as well. And other than that, we will entertain questions, from everyone, and I hope there would be any number of them."
George Barrios then reviewed the financial numbers for the quarter. He did say WWE is "evaluating" the idea of a WWE Network as a possible future endeavor.
A Q&A session was then held. Here are highlights from what was covered:
- WWE felt that lower ticket prices played a part in their increased live attendance for the quarter. Prices were down five percent and attendance went up nine percent.
- The company determines their PPV prices on a "country-by-country" basis, in order to be competitive with other PPV offerings in those markets.
- They are very pleased with their success in Mexico for live events, TV and PPV, noting it has become a "strong market" for them.
- WWE was asked why more "older footage" was not issued on home video to appeal to the longtime fan. Goldsmith said the company feels they have used a lot of the older footage already, and that there would be more usage of the library, especially if they decide to launch a network.
- When asked about eliminating PPV events to make the "big shows" stand out more, Goldsmith said WWE is always analyzing whether they should eliminate or add more PPV events to their schedule.
The total conference call ended in under 24 minutes. Yep, no mention of the PPV drop at all.
