WWE’s financial report is sometimes a subject full of numbers and boring information. But if you break it down, these numbers give a detailed picture of how the company is doing as a whole.
Let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat. WWE Studios is not doing well. The Observer reports WWE Studios lost $2,928,000 this year. This seems like a lot because it is. But it’s even more astounding when considering they only lost $437,000 during this time last year and that’s still a lot of money. It seems like they’re still losing money there, and it continues to snowball.
But on the other hand, not all news is bad for WWE. They’re selling more merchandise at live shows now than they did last year. Of course, they’ve had 19 more live shows during the first quarter this year from last year thanks to the roster split. They’re up to $2,588,000 from last year’s $2,065,000 in merch sales. The WWE Shop made $493,000 more than they did this time last year too.
All in all, WWE continues to grow in the places it needs to. But they might need to retool in areas where they seem to lose money. They’re still making money, even when they’re losing money because they seem to be making it up. They made $102,000 on their deal with Tapout. Even though it’s down around $20,000 from last year’s numbers, it’s still money made.
WWE Network subscriptions are up too. They have 216,200 more paid subscribers than they did last year but it’s still not all good news. They’re actually barely making money because of the extra PPV they’re running every month in addition to the expansion into the UK and all the original programs they produce.
Live show profits went from $6,085,000 to $8,121,000. But again, they’re running quite a few more shows than they did this time last year. Unfortunately, WWE’s digital media content looks like a money loser as well going from losing $112,000 last year to $505,000 this year. But WWE might have fallen victim to YouTube’s recent slashing of pro wrestling related content’s profits.
WWE obviously isn’t going anywhere. They’re still making a ton of money. So if you’re worried about WWE not existing tomorrow, they’ll be okay. They’re actually still doing pretty well in all honesty. There are just some bumps in the road. As they say, you’ve gotta spend money to make money and they’re spending a lot. Their stock might have dropped $1 a share since last year, but WWE is still the worldwide leader in sports entertainment and they intend on keeping it that way.
