Live events sales more than doubled for UFC while WWE‘s revenue rose more than 11% to help TKO Group Holdings post $851.2 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2024, ending June 30.
The business, which was created by the merger of WWE and UFC last September, also posted a net income of $150.7 million for the quarter, which exceeds the combined earnings of the two ring sports in their separate periods in 2023.
In a release announcing the results Thursday morning, TKO also raised its outlook for the full year, saying total revenue should come in between $2.67 and $2.75 billion, $60 million higher on both the low- and high-end than prior guidance. Ahead of the Q2 release, Wall Street consensus was for $2.7 billion in 2024 sales, according to data of 14 analysts estimates compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
UFC revenue jumped 29% in the quarter, mostly driven by live events revenue reflecting TKO’s focus on emphasizing payments for holding events in a city or country. Live events revenue was $69.1 million in the period and trailed only media rights and content revenue, which was $250.6 million, up 18%. Overall, UFC generated $394.4 million, up nearly $90 million year-over year. Media rights and sponsorship revenue also grew strongly, while consumer products, easily the smallest contributor to UFC sales at about 3% the total, slipped.
Over at WWE, the wrestling entertainment group posted $456.8 million in revenue, compared to about $410 million a year ago. More than half of WWE’s revenue, $260.7 million, came from media rights and content, with $144.1 million in live events, $24.7 million in sponsorship and $27.3 million from consumer products. WWE wasn’t a part of TKO a year ago, so comparative results aren’t provided by TKO. And WWE’s breakout of its quarter last year isn’t fully comparable to how TKO reports division revenue.
WWE was purchased by Endeavor Group last year for $9.3 billion, which then merged with UFC, also owned by Endeavor. The combined company came to market with a valuation of $21.4 billion. For much of the past 10 months, TKO shares have been trading below their initial valuation, but have been on an uptrend lately, with shares hitting a post-merger high of $113.30 in early July.
(This story has been updated in the third paragraph to accurately reflect prior guidance numbers.)
