The WWE had been expected to be rewarded for its list of 10 annual “Premium -Live events” such as Wrestlemania, but the rights of 1.6 billion US dollars with ESPN on Wednesday directs additional attention to Wall Street.
The agreement, the financial conditions of which were confirmed by a source familiar with the details, follows after a pioneering pact with NBCuniversals Pfau.
Despite the raves in some corners, the deal has not managed to increase the WWE Parent TKO Group Holdings. The stocks decreased by almost 3%and hovered at around 159 US dollars this afternoon. The company, which is led by the long-time former EndaPour boss Ari Emanuel, should report the profit in the second quarter after the end of the trade day.
Lance Vitanza, analyst at Cowen & Co., who has a street-high price target of $ 220 for TKO shares, said in a reference to customers that the WWE deal was “better than expected”. He added that it was “good” for the current negotiations of TKO with Disney and ESPN for UFC-Pay-Per-View rights. The wrestling pact alone would increase the TKO shares by 6 US dollars, according to the analyst's mathematics.
However, the average annual value of 325 million US dollars of 325 million US dollars was below the consensus expectations of the analysts for $ 340 million. Eric Handler from Roth Capital Partners noticed the shortfall, although he repeated his “purchase” rating for TKO shares. The first reports about the deal gave him a break because they did not mention whether the “huge (and valuable) content library” of the WWE would be part of the deal.
When NBCU completed the Peacock deal for the Live WWE events in 2020, it had to be programmed in Tokyo due to the Covid delay of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The setup also contained a lot of other WWE programming that contained titles that previously consisted of an independent WWE streaming service.
In a press release in which the deal was announced today, ESPN chairwoman Jimmy Pitaro welcomed the “immense, devoted and passionate fan base” The WWE and said that the agreement would help “to advance our streaming future”. Mark Shapiro, President and Coo of TKO and former Top -Exec at ESPN, said the deal is coming up “An exciting point” in ESPN's streaming rollout.
The addition of the WWE programming was announced together with new NFL rights and a comprehensive equity contract with the league when ESPN Parent Disney reported on its quarterly result.