Endeavor, the global media and entertainment giant, has published its financial results for the third quarter of the calendar year 2024 (July-September), headlined by $2.03 billion in revenue over the three-month period, although it made a net loss of $420.4 million.
This strong revenue (up substantially from the Q3 2023 figure) was powered by strong year-on-year growth across Endeavor’s sports properties, including professional wrestling promotion WWE, mixed martial arts promotion UFC, and the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) business.
Sports properties revenue was up $255.5 million on 2023’s figure to $735.2 million in total, due mainly to the addition of WWE to its revenue generation across the whole quarter (it was purchased by Endeavor in September 2023, meaning Q3 figures last year only included a small amount of WWE's actual three-month revenue).
The events, experiences, and media rights segment was also up heavily from 2023, with its $899.8 million figure an increase of $532.7 million from last year.
In July 2024 Paris, France staged the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, for which Endeavor-owned On Location was the official hospitality provider, a factor that Endeavor attributes the major gain in quarterly revenue to.
While the representation business segment's revenue rose 11.3% to $429.2 million (driven by its continued success in the music industry), the sports data and technology business (including OpenBet and IMG Arena) was not included in the calculations as Endeavor is actively seeking their sale, and as such their operations were written off as “discontinued operations.”
Ari Emanuel, Endeavor chief executive, stated of the results: “During the quarter, our owned sports and representation segments delivered solid results driven by continued consumer demand for live events and content.”
The financial results came amid Endeavor’s ongoing privatization, with firm Silver Lake set to purchase 100% of the Endeavor shares it doesn’t already own.
This has manifested in the prospective sale of the sports data and technology business, as well as the sale of On Location, PBR, and the IMG agency to TKO Group, the ownership company of WWE and UFC of which Endeavor owns 59%.
TKO's own Q3 results were also unveiled earlier this week.
Emanuel continued: “As we work toward the close of our take-private transaction with Silver Lake, we remain focused on delivering for our clients, partners, and shareholders, maintaining momentum throughout our business, and completing the sale of PBR, On Location, and IMG to TKO.”
