UFC Profit Slips In First Full Quarter For Endeavor-Run Entity

Endeavor-controlled ring sports giant TKO Group Holdings reported $614 million in total revenue in the fourth quarter, along with a slight dip in UFC profits.

It was the first batch of full quarterly operating results for the WWE and UFC parent company and followed a burst of news in January. Within the same week, TKO welcomed Dwayne Johnson to its board of directors, signed a $5 billion rights deal with Netflix and confirmed the exit of longtime WWE patriarch Vince McMahon after a graphic sexual abuse lawsuit was filed by a former employee.

Wall Street analysts will get an opportunity to ask executives about a number of topics, possibly including the potential impact of the McMahon situation, during a quarterly earnings call later on Tuesday.

Adjusted EBITDA at UFC declined to $142.9 million from $154.1 million in the year-ago period, according to the company’s earnings release, with total EBITDA reaching $223.2 million. Revenue at UFC inched up 4% to $282.8 million. WWE revenue came in at $331.2 million. The text and tables in the earnings release focused almost entirely on results for the full year, rather than the quarter. While public companies routinely tout their annual financials, quarterly figures are the primary gauge of performance.

TKO went public last September. It was formed when Endeavor bought WWE from McMahon and spun it out, along with UFC into a separate public company, of which McMahon is still a major shareholder. The transaction was valued at $21.4 billion. In the earnings release, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel said the management team has “more conviction than ever in the combination of these businesses.”  

MacMahon called the suit by Janel Grant “replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth” and said, “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.”

Federal authorities have been investigating the allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault made against McMahon, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.