WWE: Fact Checking Forbes' Article On Vince McMahon

By Chris Harrington /

Michael Solomon has an interesting piece about billionaire Vince McMahon over on Forbes. Reading it over, I couldn€™t help but scratch my head at a few of the numbers they quoted.

CLAIM: TV Rights Are $161M

The shares are flying both because WWE is seeking a new television contract, at more than twice its current rate of $160.9 million
I wish articles could get this right €“ or at least be more specific. WWE is negotiating their domestic TV contract which was $105.9M in CY2013. Their international TV contracts were $55.0M in CY2013. They€™ve already settled on the UK BSkyB deal which was rumored to be at€three times the previous five year agreement€ and starts in 2015 and the Germany deal with Tele 5 which starts in April 2014. I believe they are also working on their TV deal in India (currently on Ten Sports) which has historically been coming up in 5-year increments (2005-2009, 2010-2014) so would likely start in 2015.

VERDICT: True but misleading

CLAIM: WWE May Going To Sell

€persistent speculation that McMahon, who has never articulated a clear succession plan, might sell the company outright (both Comcast and the Madison Square Garden Co. have been rumored as suitors)
I also wrote about €œthe 5 types of companies that would want to buy WWE€ but I don€™t believe it€™s going to happen at all. It's a game for the financial press to fill space and for analysts to justify they're so optimistic without any facts to back it up. Anyone who has studied the ego of Vince McMahon knows that selling his company isn't part of his game plan.

VERDICT: Baseless speculation

CLAIM: WWE€™S Emerging Markets Are $116 Million Annually

Another bright spot: Emerging market revenue has been growing at a 7% annual rate for a decade in countries such as India, Mexico, and even South Korea, to $116 million last year.
That is a baffling claim. WWE made $507,970,000 in revenue in 2013. $391,663,000 was in North America. That€™s leaves $116,307,000 so apparently they€™re considering UK, the WWE€™s €œlargest international market€ as part of the €œemerging market revenue€. I think it€™s questionable to consider a market that WWE has been in for more than twenty years to be €œemerging€.

Analysis by Chris Harrington

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So, in the past five years, Latin American (Mexico) revenue has dropped from $12.4M to $6.6M, UK was essentially been flat, other Europe/Africa/Middle East (which include India) is down 5%. The only area of growth is Asia Pacific and that€™s going to be pretty diverse: Japan, South Korea, Philippines, China, etc. It€™s a move that directly endangers both WWE€™s PPV revenues ($82.5 million) Domestic PPV revenue in 2013 was $66.9M. International PPV revenue was $15.6M. Again, since you€™re talking about the launch of the domestic WWE Network, it would make more sense to differentiate between the two.

VERDICT: Questionable. True Emerging Markets Are Certainly Less Than $116M. Some Are Growing. Many Are Not.

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