TKO first earnings report shows it is doing well

TKO Group Holdings held its first earnings call as a publicly traded company. The results show the financial strength of the WWE and UFC.

The biggest news was that they have brokered a 5-year-deal for NXT to appear on the CW Network beginning in 2024. It will be the first time that NXT will air on network television. Earlier this fall, it was announced that WWE’s Smackdown was returning to the USA Network next year ending its time on Fox.

TKO also touted the success of the UFC with its sellout events as well as its newly announced partnership with Saudi Arabia.

For the third quarter ending on September 30, 2023, TKO generated a total of $684.8 million which equates to a 6% gain over the year-ago period from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Per Sportico, TKO’s reported quarter consists of all of UFC’s quarter with just WWE’s financials after the official merger closed on September 12. TKO generated revenue of $449.1 million, which is an increase of 32%.

Among the highlights:

TKO’s net income was $22 million and adjusted EBITDA was $239.7 million for the third quarter.

Also, Wrestlemania 40, which will be held at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in April 2024 sold more than 90K tickets in one day breaking the all-time gate set at Wrestlemania 39. While rumors of The Rock being at WM 40 is still a possibility, its unlikely he shows up.

For the UFC, TKO highlighted its renewed multi-year sponsorship with AB InBev to become the exclusive “Official Global Beer Partner of the UFC” starting on January 1, 2024. It also highlighted the recent expansion of the deal with Abu Dhabi.

UFC’s revenue was $397.5 million for the quarter from July-September 2023. WWE’s revenue was $51.6 million through September 12-30, 2023.