WWE's Rally Faces Key Test Four Years After Web Gamble Paid Off
- Media company was ahead of trend in over-the-top distribution
- Upcoming programming deals could be ‘game changer,’ BTIG says
A WWE show in in Lille, France, on May 9, 2017.
Photographer: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images
It wasn’t clear what would happen to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. when it broke with industry standards to create its own network four years ago. Investors who stuck around made out handsomely, and now look to the company to leverage its popularity into more lucrative licensing deals.
Up against cord-cutters, WWE opted to cannibalize its profitable pay-per-view business by launching its own network in 2014, a move that engendered “no admiration” from Wall Street, Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios said in an interview. He remembers a writer saying at the time that if Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon were smart, he’d march his top lieutenants “up to the top of the building and make us jump.”