TKO Group, the publicly listed combined ownership company of mixed martial arts promotion UFC and professional wrestling promotion WWE, has published its financial results for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, outlining a total revenue of $629.7 million.
The company was established on October 12 last year, meaning that it has yet to complete a full calendar year of operations with which to compare its latest results to. However, the $629.7 million figure is the highest quarterly revenue the company has posted since its formation, greater than the $614 million it drew in Q4 of 2023.
Despite the growth in quarterly revenue, TKO Group made a net loss of $249.5 million over the period, significantly higher than the net loss in the previous quarter of $13.3 million. UFC individually made a net gain of $87.9 million in Q1 2023.
TKO Group stated that the loss was driven primarily by an increase in operating expenses that was only partially offset by the growth in income.
Selling, general, and administrative expenses grew by $111.8 million up to $475.6 million in the period, while depreciation and amortization costs climbed to $91.9 million.
The $475.6 million operating cost growth also included the $335 million settlement that the UFC paid a host of former fighters that launched two antitrust lawsuits against the company.
Settling out of court allowed TKO to avoid a trial for the lawsuits that sought up to $1.6 billion in damages.
Individually between the two sports properties, UFC's Q1 revenue ($313 million) was slightly outpaced by WWE’s ($316.7 million).
UFC revenue grew by $6.3 million (2%) year-on-year compared to Q1 2023, with a $10.6 million increase in sponsorship revenue the headline, while WWE increased its media rights and live events income, growing revenue by $19.1 million (6%) on Q1 2023.
WWE held 47 events across the revenue period, including two premium live events, one of which was its annual Royal Rumble, one of its four headline yearly shows. Both premium live events drew all-time gross revenue and viewership for their respective events.
During Q1, the wrestling promotion also agreed a deal with NBCUniversal (NBCU) to keep its headline WWE Raw weekly show on NBCU’s USA Network through 2024 before it moves to streaming giant Netflix in 2025.
NBC's short-term deal is understood to be worth $25 million.
UFC staged 11 live events in the quarterly period, five of which had live audiences, and states that those events “consistently delivered strong viewership and attendance and set several all-time records for gross revenue at the respective arenas.”
