WWE Expecting To Lose $50 Million This Year

It's not going to be a good year for World Wrestling Entertainment in terms of making money. The latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE will lose between $45 million and $52 million dollars in 2014. If that happens as expected then it would be the second highest total in wrestling history, second only to WCW in 2000 when they lost a reported $62 million. The report goes on to note that WWE previously expected that they would lose $23 million to $26 million in the first six months of this year. With the Network and the new TV deal kicking in during October, they expected to break even in quarter three and then make substantial profits in quarter four, ending the year at close to breaking even. The big reason for the loss is that WWE has invested so much money in WWE Network that it is affecting everything else in the company. Since the TV deal isn't what they expected that has been a factor too. As for the WCW number, most fans will recall that the company was sold to WWE in March of 2001. Just because it happened to WCW doesn't mean it will happen to WWE. It's a completely different situation. WWE is not in danger of going out of business or anything silly like that. They have been a very profitable company for so long that they can take a hit like this and be fine. A big key for WWE going forward will be how quickly they can get WWE Network out in foreign markets like the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere because once they make it available to those fans that should lead to more people signing up. It wouldn't be a surprise to see WWE try to do some big things in the summer months as a way to create a buzz within the company. They've tried a lot of major storylines in past years like CM Punk's heel turn, Randy Orton & Triple H screwing Daniel Bryan over and in the mid 2000s they did things like Vince McMahon giving away money or when he got "blown up" in a limo. Standing pat and accepting failure is not something that WWE is used to doing. While there are no reports of anything major in the works, it wouldn't be a surprise if that there was something planned.