— WWE announced today that Basil V. DeVito has been elected to their board of directors. DeVito has been with the company since 1985, and wrote the first WrestleMania book back in 2001. Here is the announcement… World Wrestling Entertainment® announced today that Basil V. DeVito, Jr. has been elected to its Board of Directors. DeVito has been with the Company over the past 25 years. Since 2003, he has served as Senior Advisor, Business Strategies, in which he has obtained placement for WWE television programming in North America. His tenure with the company began in 1985, when he created WWE’s first marketing group. He subsequently managed several WWE departments, and served as its Chief Operating Officer from January 1997 through June 1998. DeVito was also President of the XFL™, WWE’s former professional football league. In addition to his duties at WWE, DeVito held senior positions with the National Basketball Association, The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeder’s Cup Ltd. ABOUT WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly, PG content across all of its platforms including television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 500 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. Additional information on World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.
— WWE is advertising a huge main event for next week’s 2/19 Supershow at the Allstate Arena in Chicago. World Hwt. Champion The Undertaker will team with John Cena & Edge against WWE Champion Sheamus, Batista & Randy Orton. (Source: Keith Lipinski).
— MSN.com reports that WWE’s fourth quarter 2009 earnings results came in below expectations of most financial analysis. Analysts expected $0.18 per share in Net Income, but WWE reported $0.15. Analysts also predicted $123.8 million in Q4 2009 revenue, but WWE reported $117.3 million. The stock price is down approximately 1% today, so the market didn’t punish them too bad for falling short.
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