Okay, so the other day I got curious, really curious, about how much WWE, you know, the wrestling giant, is actually worth. It seems like they’re everywhere, have been forever, so I figured it must be a hefty sum.
First thing I did was just open up my browser. Simple enough. I punched in stuff like “WWE current value” and “what is WWE worth”. You know, the usual stuff you type when you’re trying to figure something out quickly.
Right away, I got hit with numbers about its stock market value, the ‘market capitalization’. Saw figures bouncing around, sometimes billions. But then I thought, hold on, that stock market stuff changes like every single day, even minute by minute. It tells you what traders think it’s worth right now, but is that the whole story?
Digging a Bit Deeper
I remembered hearing all the buzz about WWE merging with UFC. That was a huge deal. Seemed like that would give a more solid number, maybe?
So, my next search was something like “WWE UFC merger deal value”. That led me down a different path.
- Found out WWE didn’t just merge, it became part of a new company.
- This new company is called TKO Group Holdings.
- Endeavor Group, the company that owned UFC, runs the show now, owning a majority stake (like 51%).
- WWE shareholders got the rest (49%).
When this whole TKO thing was formed back in, I think, September 2023, the reports I saw mentioned a specific valuation for WWE in that deal. The number floating around was about $9.3 billion. Okay, that felt more concrete than the constantly changing stock price.
More Than Just One Number?
But even that $9.3 billion, that was the value agreed upon for the merger. Is a company only worth its merger price? Probably not.
I started thinking about everything else they have:
- TV Deals: Man, those deals are massive. For Raw, SmackDown, NXT… billions over several years. They just signed a huge one with Netflix for Raw starting next year, apparently worth a ton. That’s steady income.
- Network/Peacock: Their streaming service moved to Peacock in the US, another big money deal. International subscribers still pay directly. That library of old matches alone must be worth a fortune.
- Live Events: Ticket sales, merchandise at shows… it all adds up.
- Merchandise: T-shirts, toys, video games… you see that stuff everywhere.
- Brand Name: The WWE name itself is globally recognized. That brand power has value you can’t easily put a number on.
So, I realized it’s not super straightforward. You can look at the TKO Group’s market cap on the stock exchange, which reflects both WWE and UFC combined, and that number jumps around. You can look at the $9.3 billion figure from the merger time as a benchmark. But the actual, day-to-day, operational value comes from all those different money streams and the sheer power of their brand and content library.
Basically, after poking around for a bit, my conclusion was: WWE’s worth is complicated! There’s the stock market view (via TKO), the specific merger valuation ($9.3B back then), and then the underlying value of the business with all its contracts and assets. No single easy answer, but definitely a whole lot of money.
