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World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) revealed a quarterly revenue record of $410.3m (£321m/€372m) in its latest financial report, as well as higher viewership and live events ticket sales.
The $410.3m figure is an increase on the $328.2m posted during the second quarter of last year.
Live events revenue increased 51% to $62m compared to the same period the year prior, with North American average attendances amounting to 9,870, an increase of 45% and a quarterly record.
In July, Money in the Bank was held at The O2 in London, and was WWE’s highest-grossing arena event in company history with records for viewership, sponsorship revenue, merchandise revenue and more.
Operating income increased by 26% to reach $87.3m while adjusted OIBDA totalled $140.7m, an increase of 54% compared to this time last year.
Earlier this year, the sports entertainment company entered into a definitive agreement with Endeavor to form a new publicly listed company consisting of the WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brands.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023.
Nick Khan, WWE chief executive, said: “We generated strong financial results in the quarter, highlighted by record quarterly revenue and Adjusted OIBDA. Operationally, we continue to effectively execute our strategy, including staging the most successful WrestleMania of all time in early April. WrestleMania, as well as our other premium live events such as Backlash, Night of Champions and Money in the Bank all delivered record viewership. Our weekly flagship programs, Raw, SmackDown and NXT, delivered strong double-digit growth in viewership, significantly outpacing overall industry performance.
“Strategically, in early April, we entered into a historic agreement with Endeavor to combine WWE with UFC to create a one-of-a-kind global sports and entertainment company. We believe that bringing these two iconic and highly complementary brands together will allow us to create incremental value for our shareholders.”
Frank Riddick, WWE president and chief financial officer, added: “In the quarter, we exceeded the high end of our guidance. Adjusted OIBDA was $141 million on revenue of $410 million. Our financial performance was favourably impacted by a shift in the timing of the staging of a large-scale international event. Our results in the quarter also reflected strong consumer demand for our live events, which benefited performance across our various lines of business.”
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