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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing coverage of the First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call for TKO Group Holdings, the parent company for WWE.
Seth Zaslow welcomed everyone officially to the call. Ari Emanuel, Marc Shapiro and Andrew M. Schleimer are on the call.
Emanuel said they were off to a solid start of the year. He talked about Wrestlemania nailing viewership and gate records.
They are raising their full year guidance.
"Based on our performance through the first three months of the year as well as a $25 million domestic media rights agreement for Raw for the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company is raising its guidance and now expects full year 2024 revenue of $2.610 billion - $2.685 billion and Adjusted EBITDA of $1.185 billion - $1.205 billion."
Emanuel praised WWE's events for the first quarter, including their Australian PPV, The Royal Rumble and the 17 event sellout streak leading into Wrestlemania 40. He said the attendance records speak to the local benefits they bring to those areas.
They created new sponsors with WWE, including in-ring mat sponsorship at events. The team that was doing these for UFC are now working on WWE events as well obviously.
Wrestlemania 40 streamed in New Zealand with no advance promotion on Netflix and was number 1 locally.
They secured a short agreement with The USA Network to keep Raw there until the end of 2024.
They believe they are positioned well going into the rest of the year to maximize revenue for their shareholders.
They put over Wrestlemania in Las Vegas. It will get them a "meaningful" payment as well as other financial and other rewards.
They noted the next NXT PPV will be at the UFC Apex.
They are on track to hit their savings and will have greater efficiencies going forward as they integrate WWE and UFC.
They reviewed the financial results for Quarter One 2024.
They then began taking questions. Ari Emanuel is not taking part in this part of the call.
They were asked what the NBA television rights rumors regarding big numbers could mean for TKO. Shapiro said he left ESPN nearly 19 years ago and said he's heard since then there's a sports rights ceiling. They feel good about the numbers.
They were asked about expanding TKO beyond WWE and UFC through additional acquisitions. Marc Shapiro noted that they were interested in MotoGP even back in the Endeavor days and they've "danced with them" over the years. It fits with WWE and UFC in terms of running almost the entire year but they eventually decided to go to Liberty Media.
They were asked about ESPN's report of additional events in Saudi Arabia. They have a strong and healthy relationship with WWE to do two events a year. Those deals were tied strongly to Vince McMahon. Nick Khan has cultivated and nurtured a strong relationship in a "hand off" from Vince. Nothing is planned beyond the usual two events there at this time.
They were asked about the sponsorships at Wrestlemania 40. They declined to get into specifics on the pricing. It was a strong Wrestlemania for them on every metric. They are doing a better job of selling with NBC and ESPN across the platforms as well.
There was a lot of UFC talk as well, but nothing that would cross over with WWE.
No sign of Nick Khan.
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