- World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE:WWE -1.3%) is off slightly today on Q2 profits that missed expectations despite a solid revenue showing.
- Revenues grew 32% to a record $199M; pro forma revenues of $169.6M (up 13%) exclude timing impact of WrestleMania, which happened in Q2 this year vs. the first quarter of 2015. WWE says the effect of WrestleMania on ticket, merchandise and pay-per-view increased Q2 revenue by $29.4M and reduced OIBDA by $0.2M (no net impact on EPS).
- The WWE Network hit 1.52M average paid subscribers (up 25%).
- For Q3, it expects OIBDA of $24M-$28M (up from 2015's $23.4M due to strong Live Events performance and increased monetization of video). It's forecasting average paid WWE Network subscribers of 1.49M (up 27% Y/Y but down about 2% sequentially due to seasonal effects).
- For the full year, "if recent overarching trends regarding the acquisition and retention of subscribers continue over the remainder of 2016, management continues to believe average paid subscriber growth would be at the upper end of its range and 2016 Adjusted OIBDA would be between $80M and $85M."
- Press Release