WWE Boasts Huge Numbers In 2022 First Quarter Earnings Report

It’s that time of the year when major corporations around the world start releasing their first-quarter revenue reports. WWE also reported their Q1 2022 results and some big numbers were expected.

Vince McMahon gave a statement on WWE’s strong head start right from the beginning of 2022. He spoke about how their effective strategy played a major role in the company’s earning.

“We are off to a strong start in 2022, highlighted by record quarterly revenue and Adjusted OIBDA,” Vince said. “We continued to effectively execute our strategy, including staging the most stupendous WrestleMania ever in early April. WrestleMania, as well as our other successful premium live events such as Day 1, Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, further expanded the reach of our brands and enhanced the value of our content as evidenced by increased ticket revenue and viewership. We continue to monetize our intellectual property across various platforms through our media rights agreements, both domestically and abroad, as well as through the monetization of new original series, including our expanded partnership with A&E.”

WWE published their full earnings report this evening. The company has overall seen a great profits from merchandise to all the other properties including the the release of WWE 2k22. Below are some of the highlights from the report.

First Quarter 2022 Highlights

• Revenue was $333.4 million, an increase of 27% and a quarterly record; Operating Income was $92.4 million, an increase of 42%; and Adjusted OIBDA1 was $111.7 million, an increase of 33% and a quarterly record
• Returned capital to shareholders totaling $38.9 million, including share repurchases and dividends paid
• Announced a multi-year expansion of the Company’s original programming partnership with A&E that includes more than 130 new hours of premium WWE-themed series and specials
• Announced a broadcast partnership with MBC Group, the largest and leading group in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to air WWE premium live events, live episodes of Raw and SmackDown as well as WWE Network’s vast library of content
• Announced a comprehensive, long-term partnership with Fanatics to create a new, enhanced digital platform for e-commerce and licensed merchandise, as well as physical, digital, and non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards
• WWE 2K22, the latest installment of the Company’s flagship video game franchise, was released to strong consumer demand and rave reviews

Of course, being a publicly traded company, it’s all about the stockholders. It was reported that the Company returned $38.9 million to shareholders in the first quarter of 2022, including $30.0 million in share repurchases and $8.9 million in dividends paid. Under the Company’s existing stock repurchase program, approximately 525,000 shares were repurchased at an average price of $57.21 per share. As of March 31, 2022, the Company had $221 million available under its $500 million stock repurchase authorization.

WWE financially did very great for the quarter, but we still have more than half a year left to see how it fares in the remaining months of 2022. Click here to view the full report released by WWE.

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