ewsba.se
Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer — Ariel Emanuel
President and Chief Operating Officer — Mark Shapiro
Chief Financial Officer — Andrew Schleimer
Head of Investor Relations — Seth Zaslow
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Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to TKO's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the call over to Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations.
Seth Zaslow: Good afternoon, and welcome to TKO's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. A short while ago, we issued a press release, which you can view on our Investor Relations website. A recording of this call will also be available via our website for at least 30 days. After prepared remarks from Ari Emanuel, TKO's Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer; Mark Shapiro, TKO's President and Chief Operating Officer; and Andrew Schleimer, TKO's Chief Financial Officer, will open the call for questions. Mark and Andrew will be handling the Q&A. The purpose of this call is to provide you with information regarding our first quarter 2026 performance.
I want to remind everyone that the information discussed will include forward-looking statements and/or projections that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for further detail. If these risks or uncertainties were to materialize or any assumptions prove incorrect, our results may differ materially from those expressed or implied on this call. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them in light of new information or future events, except as legally required. Our commentary today will also include non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends.
These measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics can be found in our press release issued today as well as the information posted on our IR website. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Ari.
Ariel Emanuel: Thanks, Seth. 2026 is off to a formidable start, especially considering the macro environment. The key growth drivers we outlined in February, media rights, live events and experiences, global partnerships and financial incentive packages, all delivered as planned in the first quarter, in line with our guidance. We are introducing our live events and experiences to new markets around the world while capitalizing on all the revenue generators inside our machine. And our newer properties, most notably Zuffa Boxing, are on accelerated growth tracks. TKO sits squarely at the center of a growing sports and entertainment ecosystem. As AI transforms how content is created and consumed, the value of our IP and properties increases.
Our content is live, it's communal, it's scarce, and no algorithm can replicate it. Reflecting our conviction in TKO and its long-term value, we've announced an incremental $1 billion share repurchase authorization, complementing the existing program, which we expect will be largely complete in the near term. We firmly believe TKO is built for what's ahead. Mark will take you through the quarter in greater detail.
Mark Shapiro: Thanks, Ari. As we said on our last earnings call, 2026 is a year of execution. Q1 performance has now validated that focus. We're activating our new media rights deals. Our live events box office business has continued momentum and as such, our financial incentive packages pipeline is growing. Q1 results reflect the uplift from new rights deals, demand in the experienced economy and progress toward year-over-year EBITDA growth in excess of 40%. Before I get into highlights from the first quarter, I want to address activity in the Middle East and neighboring markets. First and foremost, we are firmly moving ahead with our scheduled events.
Building on a successful debut in 2025, UFC returns to Azerbaijan with UFC FIGHT NIGHT BAKU on June 27. That same night, WWE host Night of Champions from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This historic TKO doubleheader reflects a commitment by us and our respective partners to bring world-class events to fans across the region, even and despite a challenging environment. I would add that following the news of PIF withdrawing its funding in LIV Golf, our partners in Saudi Arabia have confirmed that will not be the case with TKO. Their commitment to our properties in 2026 and beyond is unwavering.
As such, after these two events, we expect the remainder of our 2026 slate in the Middle East comprised of six events inclusive of UFC, WWE and Zuffa Boxing to take place as planned. The demand is real, our partners are committed and we are leaning in. TKO benefits from having defensive model business characteristics. Now an update on our growth drivers, beginning with media rights. UFC's Paramount+ debut on January 24 set the bar, reaching more homes than any UFC events in nearly a decade, but it was our number of events in March that showed the real power and potential of this partnership. Our first CBS simulcast, UFC 326 was the most watched live UFC event since 2016.
The CBS audience alone was more than 270% above last year's UFC average on linear before accounting Paramount+ streaming. That's the sampling engine at work. New fans are discovering UFC on CBS and Paramount+, and they are staying. Equally important, our content is now more accessible than ever for our fans. Both dynamics are real, and both are showing up in the numbers. At WWE, our ESPN partnership is gaining traction. Elimination Chamber at the end of February drew a meaningful year-over-year viewership increase on ESPN Unlimited, which is still building its sub count and distribution.
Just a few weeks ago, WrestleMania 42 had strong ratings across both ESPN and ESPN2, including Day 1, Saturday's broadcast, marking ESPN2's most viewed telecast of the year. Our existing media rights partnerships continue to expand in scope as well. When we announced the ESPN deal last August, we noted that we had retained several content categories for further monetization, including the WWE Archive and NXT PLEs. We've now turned both into incremental revenue gains. Early in Q1, Netflix became the official U.S. home of WWE's archive, which comprises decades of WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble content.
Netflix confirmed this deal actually in direct response to early success they've had with WWE's premium content, not to mention the traction they are witnessing with the second season of Unreal, our WWE docuseries. Just last week, we announced the CW, already the home of NXT's weekly Tuesday night programming, will become the exclusive home of all NXT PLEs, adding some 20 live broadcasts to a partnership that has made NXT the network's top-rated program among key demos. Suffice to say, strong secular tailwinds persist in the sports media ecosystem. Now turning to live events, where demand across our portfolio continues to build.
At UFC, live events sold out in the first quarter from Las Vegas to London and Sydney to Seattle, where we recorded our highest ever Fight Night gate in North America. We anticipate that momentum will carry into the second quarter with all eyes on UFC Freedom 250 at the White House, a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle on June 14. Ram Trucks and Crypto.com are signed as co-presenting partners of Freedom 250 and the limited marketing inventory available for this singular event is now sold out.
I mentioned on our last call that we anticipated losing $30 million on UFC Freedom 250, and that's still the case despite meaningfully increased costs associated with an expanded Fight Card and the 2-day festivalization of this event on the Ellipse, which is adjacent to the White House. The UFC calendar keeps building beyond that with financial incentive package-backed events taking place in Philadelphia and Serbia later this summer, further expanding our footprint into new markets with growing fan bases. On that note, at WWE, we successfully staged our first ever Royal Rumble outside North America and Elimination Chamber in Chicago became the second highest arena gate in company history.
Meanwhile, across our WWE main roster touring schedule, live events from Lubbock, which was on Valentine's Day to Laredo, which took place just over a week ago, sold out. Two months and just a 500-mile distance between the two cities, both sellouts. The underlying demand for our live events is indeed resilient and durable. Last month's WrestleMania 42 was a highly successful and profitable event. In fact, more than 106,000 fans showed up over two nights in Las Vegas. And financial incentive package economics were meaningfully ahead of last year. Now separately, we fielded some investor questions on WWE demand and the state of Creative, driven by online commentary and the year-over-year WrestleMania ticket sales performance.
Let me say that we are not concerned about the ticket performance whatsoever as it was unrealistic to expect year 2 growth in Las Vegas. And even with that, WrestleMania 42 was still one of the highest gates in WWE history and easily outperformed anywhere else we could have staged it. As it relates to the Creative, there will always be periodic fan dissatisfaction around creative execution, commercial load and celebrity usage. We listen to all the feedback. We do not turn a deaf ear, but these are not new criticisms. Lastly, both our global partnerships and financial incentive package targets are tracking as planned.
Our pipeline is vibrant for our multiyear calendar of events and inventory, putting us in line with the guidance we have previously communicated. Pivoting to the balance of our portfolio, On Location successfully delivered the Milano Cortina Olympic Experiential Hospitality program for more than 100,000 guests and closed the first quarter with meaningful LA28 Olympic sales. For FIFA World Cup 2026, experiential hospitality sales ended the quarter at over 2x any previous World Cup program in history and are firmly on track to meet or even exceed expectations. At IMG, we are powering Apple's debut season as the U.S. broadcaster of Formula 1, integrating every feed to their platform and producing content from our Stockley Park headquarters in the U.K.
We have also agreed to a long-term strategic partnership with World Rugby ahead of the 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cups in North America. I would also underscore IMG's success in the global distribution of our boxing superfights, right on strategy. These signature developments are illustrative of IMG's industry-leading expertise across advisory appointments on media rights negotiations, production, brand partnerships and event management. IMG is truly one of one. Next up, PBR. Professional Bull Riders opened the year with record performance in seven markets, including its debut at Boston's TD Garden and its largest ever attendance at Madison Square Garden in January.
PBR's Team Series has also approved a two franchise expansion, expected to grow from 10 teams to 12 teams for the 2027 season. Now when we launched the league 5 years ago, teams sold for roughly $3 million each, increasing to just over $22 million in the first expansion round in 2024. Now just 2 years later, we expect new ownership groups to pay multiples of that. Finally, turning to Zuffa Boxing, where our progress is exceeding our internal growth plan and time line. We've already signed more than 100 fighters.
We've staged five events with solid viewership on Paramount+, and we've secured a multiyear deal with Sky Sports for the U.K. and Ireland, two of the most pivotal and important boxing markets in the world. We've also signed media rights deals in more than 15 additional territories spanning EMEA and APAC. This is the IMG thesis and strategy at work. IMG responsible for all the deals across all the territories. And now with events about to depart the Meta APEX in Las Vegas and go out on the road, the next phase of our growth plan is underway. In summary, Q1 at TKO was as we anticipated.
And the growth drivers I just walked you through are not just performing, they're compounding. And engagement metrics across viewership and ratings, social media clicks and views, global brand partnership demand and the aforementioned live attendance remain rock solid. Andrew will now take you through the financial results and outlook.
Andrew Schleimer: Good afternoon. As Ari and Mark highlighted, 2026 is off to a strong start. We delivered positive operating and financial performance across our businesses and as such, are reaffirming our full year outlook. Before I get into more detail on our financial results, I want to comment on our events calendar as well as trends we're seeing in consumer demand as we know these are topics on investors' minds. We're closely monitoring the developments in the Middle East and the potential implications on our business. We're in close contact with our partners in and around the region, and we're actively tracking government advisories and security assessments.
For the avoidance of doubt and as previously announced, we're planning for and moving forward with the events that we have scheduled in the region on the same dates we anticipated when we set our plan for the start of the year. We have two events scheduled for the last Saturday in June, a WWE PLE Night of Champions in Riyadh and a UFC Fight Night in Baku, Azerbaijan. The balance of our planned activity includes an event in Abu Dhabi in late July and several events in the fourth quarter.
With respect to consumer behavior, as Mark discussed, we continue to see healthy demand for premium live events across our portfolio as TKO is firmly situated in the center of this ecosystem. Our business benefits from a high percentage of contracted revenue, including media rights, global partnerships, FIPs and consumer products licensing anchored by multiyear high-margin fixed fee agreements with annual escalators that provide attractive visibility, predictability and cash flow generation. This provides us with a unique durable platform to drive monetization. Moving to our consolidated results for the first quarter. We generated revenue of $1.597 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $550 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 34%.
Revenue increased 26%, adjusted EBITDA increased 32% and adjusted EBITDA margin increased approximately 150 basis points as compared to the prior year. UFC generated revenue of $401 million in the quarter, an increase of 12% or $41 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $255 million, an increase of 12% or $27 million. UFC's adjusted EBITDA margin was 63%, on par with the prior year period. UFC had nine total events in the first quarter of '26 compared to 11 total events in the first quarter of 2025. Event mix shifted slightly with both the first quarter of this year and last having three numbered events.
However, as we previewed on our last call, Q1 '26 included only six Fight Nights compared to eight in the prior year period. Q1 2025 also benefited from the Fight Night in Saudi Arabia that carried a meaningful financial incentive package. Later this year, we anticipate hosting a similar event that will also carry a significant FIP. Media rights production and content revenue increased 23% to $275 million. The increase was driven by a step-up in media rights fees related to the Paramount deal that began in January, partially offset by lower media rights revenue recognition as there were two fewer Fight Nights in the quarter. Partnerships and marketing revenue increased 4% to $67 million.
Despite two fewer events, we still managed to deliver an increase driven by the addition of new partners and renewals of existing partners at higher rates. We continue to make significant progress, adding new categories and growing existing ones, including the recently announced deals with bet365 as well as FRE Nicotine and Supersure, which span multiple TKO properties. As expected, live events and hospitality revenue decreased 17% to $49 million. The decrease was due to lower revenue from financial incentive packages, driven by the aforementioned Saudi Arabia event, partially offset by an increase in ticket sales.
As Mark highlighted, in Q1, we continue to see strong demand for our events, including sellouts for all three numbered events and several arena records. Adjusted EBITDA reflected the increase in revenue, partially offset by an increase in expenses. Direct operating expenses primarily reflected an increase in athlete production and other event-related costs driven by UFC 324, our first event under the Paramount rights deal. SG&A increased primarily due to higher personnel and travel costs compared to the prior period. While normally, we don't focus on the timing of revenue and expense recognition, both were important to note this quarter because adjusted EBITDA margins were on par with the prior year despite the step-up from the Paramount rights deal.
There are three items worth mentioning. First, we held two fewer Fight Nights, which carry sizable revenue allocations from our various media rights and partnership agreements. These are high flow-through revenue streams that will lead to incremental margin when those events occur in future quarters. Second, prior year margins benefited from the FIP related to the Fight Night in Riyadh, which we anticipate to be held later this year. And finally, we incurred higher-than-normal costs related to UFC 324 to ensure a strong start to our Paramount relationship. For the full year, we expect UFC margins will meaningfully outpace 2025, exactly as our guidance suggests.
Our WWE segment generated revenue of $476 million in the quarter, an increase of 22% or $84 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $256 million, an increase of 32% or $62 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 54%, up from 50% in the prior year period. Live events and hospitality revenue increased 62% to $123 million. Results reflected an increase in revenue from financial incentive packages related to the favorable impact of Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia in Q1. Media rights production and content revenue increased 12% to $282 million, primarily reflecting higher media rights fees related to the agreements with ESPN and Netflix. Partnerships and marketing revenue increased 2% to $26 million, driven by new partnerships and renewals across multiple categories.
This growth came even with additional international events, including a 12-day European tour in January as well as Royal Rumble, which catered to and served to grow our global fan base. Though it occurred in April, WrestleMania 42 was emblematic of the momentum we're seeing in this area. The event featured a record 32 total partners, including Snickers, 2K, Riyadh Season, Ram Trucks, DoorDash and Minute Maid, among many others. Adjusted EBITDA reflected the increase in revenue, partially offset by an increase in expenses. Direct operating expenses increased primarily due to higher talent and production costs, most notably related to holding Royal Rumble in Saudi, which, of course, carries a higher cost structure versus other PLEs.
SG&A increased primarily due to higher travel costs, driven by an increase in the number of international events in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 4 percentage points. The increase would have been even higher except for several timing-related items. We made a strategic decision to increase the number of NXT nontelevised events. The goal of this strategy is based on a desire to get younger talent, more experienced in front of live audiences. We believe this will accelerate their development and readiness to join our main roster. The aforementioned European tour also resulted in an increase in international events compared to the prior year.
While our international shows tend to have lower margin profiles due to increased travel and logistical costs, we believe they serve to increase fan engagement and overall monetization. As with UFC, for the full year, we expect WWE margins will meaningfully increase compared to 2025. Shifting now to our IMG segment. We generated revenue of $655 million, an increase of 38% or $179 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $97 million, an increase of 32% or $24 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 15%, on par with the prior year period.
As we previewed on our last call, the increase in revenue primarily related to the favorable impact of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics at On Location, which was on plan and in line with our guidance. Revenue at the IMG business increased slightly over the prior year period as new production agreements and boxing commissions were offset by the absence of the Arabian Gulf Cup, which is a biannual event. Adjusted EBITDA primarily reflected the increase in revenue, partially offset by an increase in expenses. Expenses reflected costs related to the Milano Cortina Olympics as well as continued meaningful planned pre-spend for LA28, namely to support increased sales efforts, which Mark highlighted are off to a strong start.
Corporate and other generated revenue of $74 million, an increase of 36%. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $58 million, an improvement of $19 million compared to the prior year period. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by higher media rights and partnerships revenue at PBR as well as higher management fees for services related to our boxing initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA primarily reflected the increase in revenue and a $22 million decrease in costs related to the absence of allocations of Endeavor corporate expenses under its ownership of IMG, On Location and PBR.
As we discussed on prior calls, from the close of the acquisition on February 28, 2025 forward, there are no Endeavor corporate expense allocations included in our financial results. These improvements were offset by costs incurred to replicate the services previously provided by Endeavor as well as an increase in personnel and other operational expenses. Now moving on to our capital structure. In the first 3 months of the year, we generated $675 million of free cash flow. Our free cash flow conversion of adjusted EBITDA was 123%. Free cash flow included the favorable impact of $582 million of net collections related to On Location for the FIFA World Cup.
Free cash flow also included the unfavorable working capital impact of UFC's new media rights deal with Paramount. As with prior years, first quarter cash flow was also impacted by annual bonus payments as well as negative working capital related to the seasonality of our businesses. As Ari conveyed, maintaining a robust and sustained capital return program remains a top priority for us. In the first quarter alone, we returned approximately $1 billion of capital to equity holders through our dividend and share repurchases. On March 31, we made our quarterly cash dividend payment from TKO OpCo of approximately $150 million or $0.78 per share.
We intend to continue to fund quarterly cash dividends with cash flow from operations or cash on hand. Regarding share repurchases, as we disclosed in our earnings release, our Board of Directors has approved up to an additional $1 billion of share repurchases in addition to our previous authorization of $2 billion. Given the strength of our balance sheet and what we believe to be a dislocation in our stock price relative to its intrinsic value, we are positioned to continue deploying capital toward what we view as a highly value-accretive opportunity. In the quarter, we repurchased $38 million of shares under a 10b5-1 trading plan that we entered into in September 2025, which expired on February 26.
In March, we entered into an ASR agreement to repurchase $800 million of our Class A common stock. We received an initial delivery of approximately 3.1 million shares and expect to complete the ASR in short order. We also entered into a 10b5-1 trading plan for the repurchase of up to $200 million of Class A common stock. Repurchases contemplated under this 10b5-1 plan are to commence immediately once the ASR agreement is completed. Share repurchases under the ASR and 10b5-1 plan are being funded with proceeds from the $900 million term loan add-on that we closed on March 10 as well as from cash on hand.
We ended the quarter with $4.671 billion in debt and $789 million in cash and cash equivalents in addition to $937 million of restricted cash. As of Q1 2026, net leverage was 2.3x based on net debt of $3.882 billion and LTM adjusted EBITDA of $1.718 billion. Now turning to our outlook. As we say consistently, we manage the business with a focus on full year performance. Therefore, we believe results are best evaluated on a full year basis, given the quarterly fluctuations that are inherent in our operations, most notably related to the timing of our live events and the mix of locations, venues and cards.
As noted in our press release, based on our performance through the first 3 months of the year and our anticipated performance for the remainder of the year, we are reaffirming our expectations. For full year 2026, we continue to target revenue of $5.675 billion to $5.775 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $2.24 billion to $2.29 billion. As articulated on our Q4 earnings call, this outlook reflects anticipated revenue growth of 21%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 43% and margin expansion of approximately 600 basis points to 39.6% at the midpoint of our guidance. This performance is expected to be driven by robust growth across media rights, live events, including FIPs and partnership revenue.
Consistent with our prior calls, while we're not providing quarterly guidance, we want to highlight a few notable items as we look to the second quarter. At UFC, media rights revenue will continue to reflect the step-up from the Paramount rights deal. The mix of live events in the quarter will also impact results. We expect to stage 11 events in Q2, UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June as well as two numbered events and eight Fight Nights. This compares to 11 events in Q2 '25, which included four numbered events and seven Fight Nights. As Mark discussed, UFC Freedom 250 is a once-in-a-lifetime event that will highlight the brand on the biggest stage possible.
That comes with a unique financial profile, where our expenses will meaningfully exceed the limited partnership inventory we have sold, and we expect to lose approximately $30 million on this event. With respect to live events revenue, the Fight Night scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan carries a meaningful financial incentive package, part of a multiyear renewal at a higher per event fee than we realized in the same market in Q2 of last year.
At WWE, given the timing and mix of our event calendar, including WrestleMania as well as a premium live event in Saudi Arabia, we expect the second quarter to be by far the highest revenue and adjusted EBITDA quarter of the year in terms of absolute dollars. Media rights will continue to benefit from the step-up of our agreement with ESPN. With respect to live events revenue, the Saudi PLE carries a meaningful FIP. But as a reminder, we held a similar event in the second quarter of 2025.
At the IMG segment, we expect results will be driven by On Location with the World Cup starting on June 11 as well as notable events in the quarter like the Final 4 and NFL Draft. It's also a big quarter for our IMG business with many of the largest soccer leagues in the final months of their season, the start of Wimbledon and the first full quarter of the MLS season. While the World Cup is anticipated to have a positive impact on adjusted EBITDA, our sales efforts, as mentioned, for LA28 will have ongoing costs that are expected to partially offset such impact.
In terms of free cash flow, while we have not given formal guidance, we continue to target a free cash flow conversion rate in excess of 60%, normalizing for two notable items, the impact of net payments related to the World Cup and UFC's rights deal with Paramount. We generated strong first quarter results that reflect continued momentum across our businesses. As we look ahead, we remain focused on operational execution as well as maintaining our robust capital return program. Anchored by our premium content, live, experiential and insulated from AI disruption, we remain extremely well positioned within the sports and entertainment ecosystem to deliver incremental value for shareholders. With that, I'll turn it back to Seth.
Seth Zaslow: Thanks, Andrew. Operator, we're ready to open the call for questions.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Brandon Ross with LightShed Partners.
Brandon Ross: You guys have unlocked a ton of monetization at both UFC and WWE over the last several years. But as you noted in your prepared, there's been some vocal fan criticism, calling out things like sponsorship and ticket pricing as being excessive. How do you think about balancing fan-facing monetization and the fan experience going forward? And do you think those vocal critics are reflective of the larger overall fan base?
Mark Shapiro: Thanks, Brandon. The second part, I can't speculate on what percentage of that social chatter reflects our entire global fan base. But I'll take the first part of it because it is a priority topic for us, and that's why we covered in the prepared remarks. Look, first off, we take any and all feedback, especially from our core fan base, extremely serious, high priority. We listen, we learn. At the same time, balancing the fan experience, I would say, with the business of sports is never easy, whether you're talking ticket prices or commercial integration. It's as old as time. And frankly, it crosses genres, right?
It's no different than Hollywood when you go to the movie theater and you see the prices rising for admission and popcorn and candy, not to mention the 30 minutes of commercials and trailers prior to the film that's been also excessively talked about. Look, change takes getting used to. Back at ESPN, when -- I recall when we took our national ad windows in SportsCenter from 1 minute to 2 minutes, there was significant backlash that went on for months. When the NBA, as an example, even thought about putting a patch, a sponsorship patch on their jerseys, fans cried out. Now there's digital boards and NBA games on the baselines. The courts themselves have sponsors.
I mean, look at Major League Baseball, the Dodgers just put a naming rights partner on the field at historic Dodgers Stadium. And criticism for the commercial breaks in the Final 4, in College Football, in the NFL, that's something that all those sports have had to manage. The WWE, in particular, is truly new to commercial integration and sponsorship and change will be more glaring for some as we inevitably commercially integrate. But I would tell you that candidly, there's no -- there's really no magic formula, Brandon. There's no serum for this. There's going to be some trial and error over time. We have experimented.
We pushed some boundaries with various events, we've leaned in with others, we've pulled back. What I can tell you unequivocally, and this is what's most important as it relates to what Lawrence and Dana do at the UFC and what Nick and Paul do at the WWE and what Sean Gleason does at PBR, our product comes first. And marketers around the world recognize that our product, especially at WWE is strong. And our audience there is particularly unique. It's young. It's diverse. It's hard to reach. It's super passionate, and they want access to our IP, those marketers want access to our IP. And we're working to give them that access while maintaining the balance.
And by the way, as we commercially integrate, that revenue allows us to be more creative with our product and with our superstars. I would just say finally, really just remember this, that our audience is resilient. We don't take it for granted. Does it mean we can do whatever we want to do? Absolutely not, quite the contrary, but it is resilient. And currently, we are experiencing record attendance, record viewership and record engagement.
Brandon Ross: All right. While we're on the topic of...
Operator: Your next question is from Sean Diffley with Morgan Stanley.
Sean Diffley: Mark, I think you mentioned financial incentive packages pipeline growing, and you guys referenced Azerbaijan as a good example. I was curious if you could elaborate on some color and texture on what new deals are looking like and conversations are looking like? And is there any impact from the Middle East there on a go-forward basis? And then curious as PSKY and WBD potentially combined, what that could mean for UFC and Zuffa in terms of HBO+, Paramount+ and a Combat Sports super app?
Mark Shapiro: Yes. First off, Sean, let me just say it sounded like we cut off Brandon. So Brandon, if you're listening or still on or maybe you got disconnected, just hit back and we'll come back around to you. Sean, you had a bunch of questions there, and we'll, of course, cover the board. Look, we're excited about this Paramount WBD combination. I can't really comment on who's going to carry us, who's not, who's going to promote us, who's not, who's going to market us, who's not, how much, when and where.
But the idea of all of these assets, platforms and reach devices being in the hands of David Ellison and his team, just given what we've seen already from this partnership, we are ecstatic and frankly, anxious for them to close this deal and for us to get to the table and start brainstorming what we can do with all their platforms. And that's not just for the UFC, that's also for Zuffa Boxing because there's real growth potential there. And the idea of just having more eyeballs, bigger audiences, higher engagement, amazing content around us, similar to what we have with Paramount+, that is something that I can tell you this team is really excited about.
And just in terms of Middle East and demand, if you will, and I'll let Andrew chime in as well. I would just want to make it very clear. Similar to what you've heard on the earnings calls with Live Nation and the Walt Disney Company, we have seen no consumer pullback whatsoever. And I'm speaking from a global perspective. So a lot in front of us in terms of the year. We're, of course, taking nothing for granted. We don't know where this is all going to end up.
It feels like every other day, we're hearing that it's just about over and President Trump has a deal only for it not to be, but there seem to be some good news this morning. Bottom line is we're on track. You heard in my prepared remarks, our partners are on track. They want us there. They're thirsty to have us there. I think they're frankly thirsty to tell the world they are not just open for business, they are hungry for business and events. And Royal Rumble was a huge hit for us earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, highest grossing gate Royal Rumble. Of course, we don't take in that revenue, we get a FIP.
But it was just a massive turnout and a massive sellout for Saudi and our partners there, and they want more. And we have more coming. We have six more events through the course of the year between Zuffa Boxing and WWE and UFC in the region. And most of those are in the fourth quarter. So we have some time, and we have 0 doubt that those are going to go off. And the demand for FIP is still strong. Our guidance is where it is. We've communicated that in the past, and we stand by that. Andrew, on the guidance?
Andrew Schleimer: Yes. Look, I would say FIP is a major growth strategy for us and momentum continues. We have not seen a slowdown. We've recently announced a couple of deals most notably in Philadelphia, where we announced UFC 330 will be at Xfinity Mobile Arena in August. That's within FIP. So domestic demand for high premium intellectual property. We talked about Baku, and Baku is unique because we're going back there after sort of the test deal in that market last year with a multiyear deal at a higher rate than we received in 2025. We've announced our debut event in Belgrade, Serbia, which will be a Fight Night in early August as well.
So really no corner of the globe untouched, and we're fairly bullish that this strategy continues to take hold.
Seth Zaslow: Operator, if you can, let's go back to Brandon Ross. I think he got cut off.
Operator: Yes, Brandon Ross from LightShed Partners.
Brandon Ross: Not sure what happened there. The question I was going to ask is there's also been a lot of noise about weaker UFC cards lately. In your view, what's going on? And what are you guys doing to improve?
Mark Shapiro: Well, that's the journalist in you there. I get it now. Brandon, let me leave no stone unturned with the direct questions. Look, bottom line is we don't buy it. Let's just start with this premise, right? The product is great at the UFC. The brand has never been stronger. Our reach has never been greater. So the foundational elements of UFC are in concrete. Anyone that came to our last numbered fight in Miami, which was UFC 327, was flat out blown away. Or anyone that went to our last Fight Night, which happened to be last weekend in Perth, Australia, a sellout or even watched it, witnessed an extraordinary sport. Look, we are always building at the UFC.
We're in the building phase at all times. We find the best up-and-coming talent around the world, and we match them continually in the best fights. There's a huge movement right now with all these young fighters coming up in the ranks. Many of them are taking over slots in the top 10 from guys that have been named in the rankings for years, strong personalities that are busting just now, Joshua Van, Brazilian Carlos Prates, undefeated Michael Morales, the next generation or look at the White House Card, which we've put out there is a strong card.
We've actually added a card to it, the UFC Freedom 250, which is it's stacked top to bottom, and we're using that opportunity to feature one of our most promising stars, Ilia Topuria. Dana White and his team have been doing this for 25 years. And look, the real truth of it is that we don't get to determine who wins, it doesn't work like that. You take these great personalities who hail from every corner of the world with exciting fighting styles. And if they win, you've caught lightning in a bottle. That's what we do. That's what Dana White does.
And there's no better matchmakers in any sport than we have with Dana's team of Hunter Campbell, Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard. And then I would just say, I'd remind you finally that with any sport, there's just natural ebbs and flows, right? It's all very cyclical. Again, kind of harkening back to the ESPN days, the NBA was on fire with Michael Jordan and then he left and there was a bit of a dip. And then all of a sudden, it was Shaq and Kobe. And as long as Shaq and Kobe were in the NBA finals, the NBA was in good shape.
But the year they weren't there or they were playing the Nets or the San Antonio Spurs were there, there was a falloff and they needed more stars and everybody talked about it and yearned and cried and commented. There was no social back then, but there was still a lot of noise. And now they're uber-rich when it comes to sports personalities and teams that are playing well as evidenced by the homegrown New York Knicks here.
Operator: Your next question is from Stephen Laszczyk with Goldman Sachs.
Stephen Laszczyk: Mark, you called out the strong engagement momentum you're seeing with your new distribution deals at ESPN and Paramount. I was curious if you could expand on that a little bit and maybe update us on perhaps to what extent you're seeing increases in engagement translate to other parts of the business like live events or sponsorship revenue, how some of those conversations progress? And to what extent the benefits you think could flow through the P&L this year and what we've seen so far play out and what's still to come?
Mark Shapiro: Yes. Look, Stephen, just across the board, we're just -- as evidenced by our report today, I mean, we're hitting and firing on all cylinders, right? We just -- we have demand and fans, consumers. Frankly, they're in dire need or thirst for live experiences. And we're right at the top. If they can be there, fantastic. If they can't be there, the next best thing is watching it live. We're the definition of that theory. I mean WrestleMania was -- it hit the top 10 in 33 countries, which is above last year's 28. That was just for Saturday. The Sunday event hit the top 10 in 24 countries. So they want the unpredictability.
And at the end of the day, given, again, the fan base, the youth, the demos, the diversity, the engagement, you heard David Ellison on his -- on the PSKY earnings call talk about the level of engagement they're seeing with UFC. That ultimately is going to translate in big upside, global partnerships upside, financial incentive package upside, folks buying more merchandise because they want to be closer to the brand, right? Just overall, the experience being in the middle of that and then being able to talk about that. So we're clearly bullish given what we're seeing. And we don't see a slowdown. And we're focused on the execution, right?
I mean, Andrew talked about in his prepared remarks, the jump we're going to see in our EBITDA margin, the guidance we've put out there on the global partnerships and the FIPs, the traction is there. And as it relates to the UFC, we couldn't be more excited about the White House event because it's an opportunity to get more sampling, to get more awareness. And ultimately, that's just going to expand our audience, which is always, always good for business.
Stephen Laszczyk: Great. And then maybe just on the partnership and marketing front, maybe for Andrew. I think growth decelerated in the first quarter quite a bit. I was just curious if you could talk a little bit more about the puts and takes of the first quarter revenue growth dynamic and then how we should expect growth in this line item to progress as we look into the balance of the year across both the UFC and WWE?
Andrew Schleimer: Yes. So on UFC, partnership and marketing revenue for the quarter increased 4%. And that's largely attributable to timing, if not exclusively attributable to timing. We're bullish. Partnerships and marketing is core to our thesis, and we really see no slowdown at UFC or WWE for that matter. We had two fewer events in the quarter, two fewer Fight Nights, and we do allocate and recognize revenue on a per event basis. So nothing to read through on that side. As we look at WWE, partnerships and marketing revenue was impacted by geography. We did have 12 events internationally, which historically have been a bit harder to monetize than our domestic events.
We did have an event in Riyadh, which had some restrictions that caused a bit of slowdown versus the prior year quarter. But candidly, there's nothing to read through or read into given the fact that we're well on our way to massive year-over-year growth in partnerships.
Mark Shapiro: And we don't -- when we don't -- Stephen, when we don't monetize to the fullest on global partnerships for these international events like we do domestically. We still do well, but we don't do what we do domestically. We make it up and then some on the financial incentive packages. So just to underscore Andrew's point, not to read into it, you've got 12 events international here in the first quarter. This is a timing situation. Our pipeline is robust, and we are closing deals right and left as evidenced by some of the new categories we're finding. And I think there is some conversation continuing about how many categories can we unearth.
And we would just tell you that we're chockful right now. A lot more to come.
Operator: Your next question comes from Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.
Peter Supino: I wanted to ask about the segmentation of demand. If you guys could share any color on how you see consumers at various price points acting across WWE and UFC and how that informs your strategy going forward in terms of trying to maximize your revenue at a given night. And then if you also would talk about the success of UFC on Paramount+. Obviously, that bigger stage is great for the brand, and I wondered how you expect that to show up across the business over the next few years.
Mark Shapiro: Yes. I mean it's a little more of the same, Peter, in terms of how it's going to show up across the business. Look, they'll use all the bells and whistles and platforms they have at their disposal and what's to come with Warner Bros. Discovery to ultimately get our content to a larger audience. And as that audience converts, and it will do that. I mean that's MMA, right, think of where it was 20 years ago versus where it is today. Our fan base will grow. And as the fan base grows, it just ultimately fuels all these revenue-generating opportunities and pipelines that we have. So we're bullish on that partnership.
And frankly, we're bullish on the marketing power of their platforms, in particular. And while we're just getting a little bit of taste of CBS here and there, that has proved to be a very powerful platform for us. And as you heard on the PSKY call, the age -- the average age of our audience is significantly younger than the average Paramount+ viewer, which helps them. The engagement has been strong, and we're talking millions of minutes that they're watching. And I would say, importantly, they're not just watching the fights, they're watching the ancillary program, similar to what's happening with Unreal on Netflix as it relates to the WWE and the success they're having there with Raw.
So look, wider audience, wider reach ultimately equals a larger fan base. And a larger fan base ultimately is something that we will work with our partners to monetize. On the ticket front, look, we're not going to get into specifically how we break out our yield monetization strategy or the AI dynamic pricing tools that we use. But suffice to say, we like what we're seeing, our gates are strong. And we're more focused on making sure we deliver on the experience that folks are coming out to see. And we believe that coming out to see, as I've already said, is going to continue to really substantially increase.
When you have a 4-day work week becoming a standard in the office, I'm talking about, as it has with many countries across the globe, leisure demand stops being concentrated into a Saturday night. It starts spreading into shoulder days. People crave physical aggregation, and that plays right into our strategy.
Operator: Your next question is from Ryan Gravett with UBS.
Ryan Gravett: Two questions for me. I guess, first on the PBR. I guess coming off the new rights deals you signed last year and the expansion of the Team Series planned for next year, I guess how should we think about the opportunity for growth at that property and the level of EBITDA contribution that it could drive for the company? And then, Andrew, I think it was about a year or 2 ago when you first talked about your comfort in operating the business at up to 3x leverage. I'm just wondering if your thoughts around leverage have changed at all now that you have all the media rights deals locked in to the end of the decade.
Andrew Schleimer: Yes. So I'll hit the PBR and as well will take the entire question, Ryan. As I reported, our corporate and other segment where PBR sits generated revenue of $74 million in the quarter, which is up 36% over the prior year period. A couple of factors that drove that very impressive growth. Boxing obviously, is in there as well, but PBR and PBR media rights and just traction in that business is something that we're very, very excited about driving year-over-year increases. We anticipate there to be continued growth at PBR, which will be reflected in that segment. And it is high-margin growth, analogous to what we see in both the WWE and UFC segments.
Look, we have an extraordinary financial position. Our balance sheet is strong. We're highly free cash flow generative. We are looking to continue to commit, to deploy and return capital to shareholders. As you saw today, as in our press release and our prepared remarks, our Board has authorized another $1 billion of share repurchase for us to be opportunistic to the extent we continue to believe there to be a dislocation from geopolitical uncertainty in our stock price. We are just about complete with our ASR, which will then shift to a $200 million 10b5-1 plan.
And when that's all said and done, we now have $1 billion in our toolkit to put to work as authorized by our Board. So how we finance that is TBD. I'm comfortable with our leverage level. I'm comfortable at a higher leverage level because we will naturally delever over time by virtue of the robust growth characteristics of this company. So you can just pull it forward, the 2.3x that we are today at the midpoint of our guidance range, assuming no incremental debt will be well below 2x. And that obviously is an extraordinarily comfortable place to be. And that's not to say we wouldn't look to add more given the natural deleveraging characteristics.
Seth Zaslow: Operator, why don't we take one last question please?
Operator: Your last question will be from Brent Navon from Bank of America.
Brent Navon: So just one for me on -- there have been several instances of high-profile one-off fighting events that are just really validating the fan interest in combat sports. But I guess the flip side is this demand could also make the demand for some of your fighters even stronger. So are you finding that it's becoming more competitive to retain top fighters? And anything you could share on how fighter comp is tracking this year relative to prior years?
Andrew Schleimer: Yes. Look, we are -- data point that I can share Brent, is the one that we've said previously, where we -- out of the gate, when we did the Paramount deal, we doubled fighter bonuses at UFC, which is an 8-figure investment, that was inclusive in our full year guidance. Fighter compensation continues to grow at a meaningful clip, and we know what our core assets are, and we would never turn a blind eye to our most meaningful investment. So we believe that we make strategic and targeted investments in our athletes and our talent at WWE, not something that's keeping us up at night.
Mark Shapiro: It's baked in, Brent. And at the same time, in terms of competition, absolutely, we have competition everywhere, always have. UFC has more and more competition. MMA, Combat Sports, Boxing, you see some of the new entrants getting into it, and you know some of the current players across the board. This is a highly competitive space, and we have to be at our best every day with our storylines, with our matchups, with who's on our roster. And from Dana to Triple H, it's something they think about when they wake up and it's on their mind when they go to bed, period. And that's on both sports.
I mean we see it really across the board with wrestling and/or with the UFC. But as long as we're doing our job right, as long as we're putting the product out in front of us first, and that's our top priority, and it's our top focus. We're listening to the fans, we're serving up great experiences around our events. We're driving viewership with our partnerships and our holistic marketing plans. Well, then we should stay out in front, but we don't take it for granted, and we never will.
Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending, and you may now disconnect.
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TKO (TKO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool