WWE Network News: Vince McMahon Net Worth Shrinks, CEO No Longer a BIllionaire Thanks to Declining Stocks
Friday was not a pleasant day for WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon. He started the day as a billionaire and ended it about $350 million poorer.
World Wrestling Entertainment's stock price took a huge hit Friday after news was released that its new streaming online video network would not replace its pay-per-view revenues until 2015. The stock fell all the way to 11.27 at Friday's closing bell. That's down from 19.93 Thursday.
Because of this fall, Vince McMahon's real-time wealth, according to Forbes, fell $357 million. Forbes no longer lists him as a billionaire, instead they list his net worth as $750 million.
Thursday evening, WWE celebrated its new contracts with NBC properties USA Network and SyFy Network. Both networks were happy to re-sign with WWE and noted that WWE programming reaches more viewers than the NBA, NASCAR, MLB, NHL and UFC.
McMahon was pleased with the new television contracts. He said that he expects operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) to land somewhere between $125 million and $190 million by 2015. With international networks added, including the U.K. and Thailand, McMahon expects that number to surpass $200 million.
But, investors and analysts weren't impressed enough.
"We estimate management negotiated a +50 percent increase on the Company's domestic TV rights Fees with NBCUniversal, meaningfully below the guided multiple of 2X to 3X," wrote Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey in a note Friday morning.
Quoting Hulk Hogan ("To all my little Hulkamaniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong"), Hickey downgraded WWE's rating from a buy to a hold and cut its price target from $29.12 to $19.96.
"The company's valuation could take a heavy beating this morning, as the new domestic TV deal with NBCU likely disappointed investors over limited visibility and believability on the ultimate success of the network," Hickey said.
Another item for concern is WWE's new WWE Network. First quarter subscribers came in at just 670,000. WWE needs to add 1.3 million to 1.4 million total subscribers to offset the Network's take off from pay-per-view revenue. Customers that subscribe to the monthly cost of the WWE network ($9.95 per month) will get "free" WWE pay-per-views every month.
"The rate of subscriber adoption is a critical determinant of the company's projected future financial performance," WWE said Thursday evening.
The company projected that, if the WWE Network achieves 1 million subscribers by year-end 2014, it would average about 650,000 subscribers per year. This would equate to an estimated full-year OIBDA loss ranging from $35 million to $45 million and a full-year net loss ranging from $45 million to $52 million.
WWE shares had a great first quarter -- it was one of the top-performing stocks in that quarter. In April, the stock began to tumble and is down 46.6 percent year to date. On April 1, the stock closed at 29.60; Friday the stock closed at 11.27.