WWE Expected to Lose More Money in 2014 Than Any Other Wrestling Company since WCW

As has been evident over the past couple of weeks, things are not going well for WWE financially. After its renewal with NBCUniversal, Vince McMahon lost his billionaire status, as the company’s stocks plummeted. Additionally, a wide variety of law firms began investigating WWE on behalf of its shareholders, following the new television deal.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter has now reported on an interesting stat on just how bad 2014 may turn out for WWE. The newsletter stated that WWE will likely lose somewhere between $45 to $52 million in the calendar year. Such a loss would make 2014 for WWE the second-biggest loss of money in a calendar year for any wrestling promotion. The only bigger loss was experienced by WCW in 2000, which saw the company lose $62 million.

The company was already expecting to lose money during the first six months of this year, as it was likely to lose most of its money from pay-per-views. Its estimates were somewhere between $23-$26 million. However, WWE believed that due to the WWE Network, in addition to a new television deal kicking in around October, that it would be able to break even for quarter three. Then, in quarter four the company would be able to turn substantial profits, thus making up for the losses experienced in the first six months.

However, things will not pan out like WWE’s vision. With a low-number of subscribers to the WWE Network and an inability to receive a substantial television deal, the company will continue to lose money, reaching the previous noted estimate of $45 to $52 million.

Editor’s Note

Wow. Things just continue to look bad for WWE financially. It’s amazing that after an amazing WrestleMania XXX, things continue to look bleak for the company in terms of its product and its business side. While these struggles will not put WWE out of business or lead to anything catastrophic (yet,) it certainly doesn’t look well.