Notes from TKO Group’s 2024 Fiscal 4th Quarter & Fiscal Year Report – TKO Closing in on Entering Boxing Business & WWE to Hold 1 PLE in 2025 and 3 PLEs in 2026 in Saudi Arabia

TKO Group held an investor’s meeting on Wednesday discussing the results from their fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and fiscal 2024 year report.

It was stated that these results cover the time period of January 1 through December 31, 2024.

In regards to fiscal quarter revenues, TKO generated $642.2 million in net revenues for the fiscal quarter with the split being $343.9 million from UFC and $298.3 million from WWE. Operating income for the fiscal quarter was $101.9 million.

TKO generated a net income of $47.5 million for the fiscal quarter.

In regards to other financial areas, TKO’s Adjusted EIBDA for the fiscal quarter was $238.1 million. WWE’s events revenue for the fiscal quarter was $93.1 million. WWE’s consumer revenue for the fiscal quarter was $26.1 million.

In regards to the 2024 fiscal year, TKO generated $2.804 billion in net revenues for the fiscal year, up compared to 2023 fiscal year’s $1.675 billion. Net income was stated to be $6.4 million, down compared to 2023 fiscal year’s $175.7 million. It was announced that the reason for the large decline was due to increased operating expenses over the inclusion of WWE for a full 12 month period and legal expenses related to the anti-trust lawsuit against UFC. Adjusted EIBDA was stated to be $1.251 billion for the fiscal year, up compared to 2023 fiscal year’s $809.1 million. Operating income was stated to be $282.9 million, down compared to 2023 fiscal year’s $446.7 million.

Official press release:

TKO Transaction

On September 12, 2023, Endeavor and WWE closed the transaction to combine UFC and WWE to form a new, publicly listed company, TKO Group Holdings, Inc. Reported results presented in this earnings release prior to September 12, 2023 reflect only UFC activity.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights

* Revenue of $642.2 million
* Net income of $47.5 million
* Adjusted EBITDA1 of $238.1 million

Full Year 2024 Financial Highlights

* Revenue of $2.804 billion
* Net income of $6.4 million
* Adjusted EBITDA of $1.251 billion

Full Year 2025 Guidance

The Company is targeting revenue of $2.930 billion to $3.000 billion

The Company is targeting Adjusted EBITDA of $1.350 billion to $1.390 billion.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (“TKO” or the “Company”) (NYSE: TKO) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.

“TKO delivered record financial performance in 2024 at both UFC and WWE, reflecting the strength of our IP, the dynamic audiences we serve, and the industry-best team of people we’ve assembled,” said Ariel Emanuel, Executive Chair and CEO of TKO. “In the year ahead, we will be focused on securing long-term U.S. domestic media rights agreements for UFC as well as WWE’s Premium Live Events; integrating IMG, On Location and Professional Bull Riders into our portfolio; creating even more compelling live events; and executing our robust capital return program for shareholders.”

Consolidated Results

Fourth Quarter 2024

Revenue increased 5%, or $28.2 million, to $642.2 million. The increase reflected an increase of $61.1 million at UFC, to $343.9 million, partially offset by a decrease of $32.9 million at WWE, to $298.3 million. The decrease at WWE was primarily related to the previously disclosed timing of the transition of WWE’s weekly flagship program, Raw.

Net Income was $47.5 million, an increase of $63.6 million from a net loss of $16.1 million in the prior year period. The increase reflected the increase in revenue and a decrease in operating expenses. The decrease in operating expenses reflected a decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses of $11.5 million and a decrease in depreciation and amortization of $19.0 million, partially offset by an increase in direct operating costs of $19.7 million.

Adjusted EBITDA1 increased 7%, or $14.9 million, to $238.1 million, due to an increase of $35.5 million at UFC and a decrease of $6.1 million in corporate expenses, partially offset by a decrease of $26.7 million at WWE. The decrease at WWE was primarily related to the previously disclosed timing of the transition of WWE’s weekly flagship program, Raw.

Cash flows generated by operating activities were $56.8 million, a decrease of $163.9 million from $220.7 million, primarily due to the timing of working capital, including a $125.0 million payment related to the UFC antitrust lawsuit. (See “Legal Matters” for further details.)

Free Cash Flow3 was $36.5 million, a decrease of $148.2 million from $184.7 million, due to the decrease in cash flows generated by operating activities, partially offset by a decrease in capital expenditures.

Cash and cash equivalents were $525.6 million as of December 31, 2024. Gross debt was $2.780 billion as of December 31, 2024.

Full Year 2024

Revenue increased 67%, or $1.129 billion, to $2.804 billion. The increase reflected the increase of $1.015 billion of revenue at WWE, to $1.398 billion, and an increase of $114.0 million at UFC, to $1.406 billion. The increase at WWE primarily reflected the inclusion of twelve months of activity in reported results in 2024.

Net Income was $6.4 million, a decrease of $169.3 million from $175.7 million in the prior year period. The decrease reflected the increase in revenue offset by an increase in operating expenses. The increase in operating expenses primarily reflected an increase in direct operating costs of $385.3 million, an increase in selling, general and administrative expenses of $679.6 million, and an increase in depreciation and amortization of $228.2 million. The increase in operating expenses primarily reflected the inclusion of twelve months of WWE activity in reported results in 2024 as well as settlement charges of $375.0 million related to the UFC antitrust lawsuit. (See “Legal Matters” for further details.)

Adjusted EBITDA increased 55%, or $442.1 million, to $1.251 billion, due to an increase of $518.1 million at WWE and an increase of $45.3 million at UFC, partially offset by an increase of $121.3 million in corporate expenses. The increase at WWE primarily reflected the inclusion of twelve months of activity in reported results in 2024.

Cash flows generated by operating activities were $583.4 million, an increase of $115.0 million from $468.4 million, primarily due to the timing of working capital.

Free Cash Flow was $508.5 million, an increase of $88.7 million from $419.8 million, due to the increase in cash flows generated by operating activities, partially offset by an increase in capital expenditures.

Other notable highlights from TKO’s investor’s meeting:

• TKO Group CEO Ari Emmanuel stated that the fourth quarter capped a milestone year for TKO. Emmanuel stated that they delievered “record financial performance” in their first year as a public company and praised their new media rights deals inclucing Netflix, the audience growths for WWE’s SmackDown and NXT brands in their new broadcast homes, and WWE having its most successful year in terms of company records broken.
• On the topic of WWE and UFC’s cost savings merger goals, Emmanuel stated that they have hit their goal of saving $100 million with the integration of WWE and UFC.
• On the topic of WWE’s current media rights deal with Peacock, Emmanuel stated that their current deal with NBC’s Peacock expires in March of 2026. Later in the media call, they announced that they currently expect to enter talks with Peacock about a potential renewal deal during the second half of this year.
• On the topic of the current plans for future WWE PLEs in Saudia Arabia, TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer stated “Our guidance for 2025 includes one PLE in Saudi Arabia, compared to two PLEs in 2024. This results in an unfavorable impact to our 2025 plan of approximately $55 million of total company revenue. We expect to host three PLEs in Saudi Arabia in 2026, including Royal Rumble.“
• On the topic of TKO expanding their sports IPs portfolio and enterting the boxing market, TKO COO Mark Shapiro stated “We are close on an agreement with the Saudis on the creation of a boxing league where we, TKO, would be the producer, the promoter, and responsible for all day-to-day operations of the venture, whereby we would receive a fee of $10 million-plus. We’re not putting capital in. Additionally, we would have some earn-in equity over time, specifically over a five-year period, but it would be dependent on us achieving certain milestones, including us exceeding board-approved annual budgets over those five years. We just sent a delegation to London to meet with the Saudi delegation, led by Andrew Schleimer, our CFO, Nick Khan, who runs WWE, and Lawrence Epstein, who runs UFC. They had a full day meeting earlier this week, and we’re getting close. When we have something official, it’ll come out. We would be the promoter, producer, and event operator of four large-scale super fights that would air, probably two this year, and two in [2026]. Those may not fall into the boxing league itself. They may just be one offs, but we would be paid a fee to act as the promoter, producer, and even operator.“
• Shapiro also stated their move to shifting events internationally and with Saudi events is part of their plan to drive additional revenue over the course of the year into the company.
• On the topic of WWE’s current media rights deal and partnership with Netflix, WWE President Nick Khan stated “All we’ve seen from Netflix is an appetite for more WWE. They’ve been phenomenal to deal with. They’ve promoted us in a way we hoped we would be promoted, even more so than we had hoped. The appetite by Netflix to have additional ancillary programming, we announced a few weeks ago, we’re doing a WWE behind the scenes show with Netflix, which will come out later this year. Assume there is more cooking in the pipeline.“

Source: PWInsider.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3