English Entertainment
WWE reports a fall in operationg income for Q2
MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., (WWE) has announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended 27 October, 2006.
Revenues totalled $96.2 million as compared to $88.9 million in the prior year quarter and operating income was $11.7 million as compared to $18.9 million in the prior year quarter. The company reported net income of $10.4 million as compared to $11.7 million, or $0.17 per share, in the prior year quarter.
In India WWE airs on Ten Sports.
WWE CEO Linda McMahon says, ” The current quarter reflects the absence of all domestic cable advertising revenues under our arrangement with USA Network, which accounted for revenues of approximately $5.6 million in the prior year quarter. Our effective tax rate in the current quarter was significantly lower as a result of a beneficial settlement of a state and local tax audit. The prior year quarter also included approximately $3.4 million in positive legal settlements. We accomplished several operational objectives in the second fiscal quarter that are important for our continued development.
“We launched Friday Night SmackDown on the new CW network, allowing us to broadcast into three million additional homes domestically. We successfully released our second feature film, The Marine in October and the results are firmly in line with our expectations. We have also positioned our home video business for long-term growth by securing a new distribution deal.”
Revenues from WWE’s live and televised entertainment businesses were $64.3 million for the current quarter as compared to $63 million in the prior year quarter, a two per cent increase. Pay-Per-View (PPV) revenues were $18.6 million as compared to $18.8 million in the prior year quarter. There were three Pay-Per-View events produced in each quarter.
Beginning in Q1 of the 2006 transition Period, the North American retail price of its PPV events was increased by $5 to $39.95 in order to bring the price more in line with similar live events. International buys comprised approximately 36 per cent of total buys in the current quarter as compared to 40 per cent of total buys in the prior year quarter.
Live event revenues were $17.6 million as compared to $13.0 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to the timing of international tours. There were 101 events, including 11 international events and 27 ECW branded events, during the current quarter. In the prior year, there were 78 events, including only 2 international events.
International events generated approximately $4.6 million in the current quarter as compared to $1.3 million in the prior year quarter. Television rights fees revenues were $21.8 million as compared to $20.4 million in the prior year quarter. This increase is primarily due to the rights fees received from ECW telecasts.
Television ad revenues were $1.5 million as compared to $7.7 million in the prior year quarter. This decline was due to the earlier mentioned television distribution agreement with USA Network, which became effective in October 2005.
Due to this change, WWE no longer participates in domestic television advertising sales. Advertising revenues in the current quarter include sales of advertising on the Canadian television programmes.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
