No Knockouts for UFC Owner’s $1.2B Quarter

Endeavor reported $1.22 billion in third-quarter revenue, down from $1.39 billion during the same period last year.

The owner of mixed martial arts promotion UFC and talent agency WME posted a net loss of $12.5 million, compared to $63.6 million in net income in Q3 FY 2021.

• The Events, Experiences & Rights segment brought in revenue of $440.6 million, down $5.7 million year-over-year, primarily attributed to media rights to non-annual events.
• Revenue for its Owned Sports Properties segments jumped to $402.3 million, a $113.8 million increase from last year, partially due to an increase in product and licensing revenues at UFC.
• Endeavor’s Representation segment’s revenue fell $276.4 million to $388.3 million.

Endeavor closed its $800 million acquisition of sports betting company OpenBet during the quarter. The initial agreement was reportedly worth $1.2 billion, but that number fell in July, per an SEC filing. The deal combines OpenBet with IMG Arena, Endeavor’s sports betting unit.

The company expects $5.24 billion to $5.33 billion in full-year revenue.

Ballpark Policies 

During the quarter, Endeavor announced plans to sell Diamond Baseball Holdings to Silver Lake — Endeavor’s majority investor — for $280 million. DBH was formed last year and now includes 10 minor league baseball teams.

Endeavor president Mark Shapiro said at the time that the company’s “relationship with MLB and the MLBPA took priority” — the MLBPA previously claimed Endeavor’s ownership of player agents in its WME Sports division was a conflict of interest.