10 Reasons Why WWE Owner Vince McMahon Just Lost $842 Million

5. Spending Is Up And Profits Are Down

A longer term factor in WWE's decline is the fact they are spending more money. That's just hit home now to investors who have realised WWE isn't the cash cow they might have hoped it was. The Wrestling Observer reports that "profits in most sectors of core business have been declining." A big source of the financial drain has been the Network start up costs. Since 2011 those costs have hit $75 million, a massive investment which right now shows no signs of paying itself back in the near future. Beyond the Network we have seen other expenses, notably the addition of high price none full timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar. The implementation of the developmental performance centre is a further outpouring of money. Obviously WWE believes in the long term that investments such as Lesnar, the Network and developmental will pay back the original spending - but right now it's nothing more than a calculated bet. Another expense has been the rising cost of producing live shows, which has shot up in cost compared to the relative small increase in the live gate. WWE is a complex patchwork of costs and investment right now. The realisation on Wall Street is that the company could in fact end up financing debt in the coming years. This has led to the correction in WWE's share price which has hit McMahon right in the wallet.