Total Divas Recap 05/18/14

WWE Being Investigated For Possibly Violating Securities Laws (Again)

WWE is being investigated by former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC, as to whether the company or its officers and directors violated state or federal securities laws by overstating the value of their new domestic TV licensing agreement.

Daniel Moore, an analyst with CJS Securities, said in a research note that, “Given management’s more optimistic tone and the fact that other major sports franchises have garnered much higher increases, this outcome is likely to be viewed as disappointing by many investors.”

A complete press release on the investigation is available at this link.

A similar investigation claim was reported back in April. WWE stated that claim had no substance or merit.

Friday was a horrible day for WWE as the company experienced fallout from their underwhelming new TV agreement with NBCUniversal. The company’s stock went into free fall, Vince McMahon lost nearly one third of his net worth and an investment firm called for WWE to fire management or explore selling the business.

Vince McMahon No Longer Billionaire After Losing $350 Million In A Day

Vince McMahon lost $350 million as of market close on Friday, as shares in his WWE took a beating from investors. The stock was down more than 40% since the market open. In fact, the stock, which had closed just below $20 on Thursday, opened down below $11. That immediately knocked the WWE boss out of the billionaire ranks, putting his net worth now at an estimated $750 million.

The stock fell after news that WWE had signed a new television deal with NBCUniversal for less than some investors had hoped. Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey estimated WWE got a 50% raise over its last TV agreement, but he expected the new deal to pay WWE double or triple its previous one.

McMahon became a billionaire for the first time in 2000, still holding onto a huge stake in the company. But WWE stock dropped a year later and didn’t recover that ground until January of this year, about 13 years or so later, when McMahon—who owns 52% today—rejoined the billionaire ranks. Now he’s down and out once again...More?

source: forbes.com

Vince McMahon to discuss business outlook on Monday

WWE announced that Vince McMahon and George Barrios will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. CT on Monday. The call will be available via live web cast at Corporate.WWE.com.

Investment Firm Calls For WWE To Fire Management Or Explore Sale Of Business

For the record, Vince McMahon owns 57% of WWE's Class A stock, and 87% of WWE's Class B stock, meaning he has roughly 82% of the voting power. So any outside group buying WWE stock and trying to influence change may be able to pressure WWE a bit, but Vince McMahon is pretty much untouchable right now given the number of shares he owns.

Lemelson Capital Management, a private investment management firm, announced on Friday they have a stake in shares of WWE and are calling on the Board of Directors to replace the executive management team or explore the sale of the business.

The firm called on the changes following “a period of consistent losses, execution issues and material misstatements.”

“WWE has affirmed that even with one million subscribers for its WWE network, the company stands to lose between $45 million and $52 million in FY 2014, which validates the original short thesis,” said Emmanuel Lemelson, Chief Investment Officer of Lemelson Capital Management. “This follows what we believe to be material misrepresentations by the company about both the performance and operating profit model of its WWE network, which the company has wrongly labeled ‘a homerun’,” said Lemelson.

Below is the release in its entirety:

Lemelson Capital Announces Stake In World Wrestling Entertainment And Calls On Board To Pursue New Management Or Ownership

Marlborough, MA, May 16, 2014 — Lemelson Capital, LLC, a private investment management firm, today announced that they had taken a stake in shares of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and called on the Board of Directors to replace the executive management team of the company following a period of consistent losses, execution issues and material misstatements.

Despite the stock’s roughly 63% correction since Lemelson Capital’s original short call less than two months ago (from $30.37 on March 17 to $11.33 as of publication of this release), the firm today also reiterated that fair value of WWE’s common stock is between $8.25 and $11.88.

Lemelson Capital’s original short thesis can be found here:

“WWE has affirmed that even with one million subscribers for its WWE network, the company stands to lose between $45 million and $52 million in FY 2014, which validates the original short thesis,” said Emmanuel Lemelson, Chief Investment Officer of Lemelson Capital Management. “This follows what we believe to be material misrepresentations by the company about both the performance and operating profit model of its WWE network, which the company has wrongly labeled ‘a homerun’,” said Lemelson.

Lemelson Capital today also called on WWE’s Board of Directors to promptly replace the company’s executive management team, or explore the sale of the business, and said that such changes are a necessary component of any successful strategy going forward. “For example, promoting the WWE direct network’s value to shareholders without a fair and accurate discussion of the implications to a traditional network revenue circumvented management’s fiduciary responsibility as stewards of investor’s capital, and is part of what has emerged as a pattern over recent years. Further, there are no pending operational developments in the pipeline to offset these significant losses,” Lemelson added.

Lemelson Capital and its clients are long shares of WWE.

WWE Shares Plummet Following New WWE Television Deal

WWE shares plummeted over 20% to just over $15 per share on Thursday following the announcement that WWE has finally announced a new multi-year television deal with NBCUniversal that will keep RAW, SmackDown and Total Divas on USA, SyFy and E!,

Despite assurances, no financial terms were disclosed during the announcement which lead to the share plunge. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has told investors that WWE expects to “double or triple” their TV rights fees from the current $140 million.

WWE Business Outlook Maintains Potential For Significant Earnings Growth

NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Reaches Multi-Year Deal With WWE For Monday Night Raw On USA Network And Smackdown On Syfy

NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment and WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced a multi-year strategic partnership for WWE’s flagship programming and ratings juggernauts MONDAY NIGHT RAW® for a three-hour block on USA Network and the top-rated FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN® on Syfy. The two programs are the longest-running weekly episodic entertainment programs on cable TV with a combined reach of 10.8M viewers each week. The announcement was made today by Paul “Triple H®” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President Talent, Live Events & Creative, from the stage at the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment upfront presentation at the Javitz Center in New York.

“USA Network President Chris McCumber, Syfy President Dave Howe and I are incredibly pleased to renew this strategic partnership with WWE,” said NBCUniversal Cable Chairman Bonnie Hammer. “In today’s TV landscape, live event programming is an extraordinarily valuable asset, and WWE remains the only entertainment franchise that consistently delivers this on a 52-week a year basis. We look forward to bringing WWE’s action-packed and unique brand of drama to the wide audiences across our cable networks for many years to come.”

“We are proud to continue our long-standing partnership with NBCUniversal given their premiere position in the marketplace and vast promotional platforms,” said WWE Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon. “We are excited about our future as we further the reach and popularity of our live, family-friendly entertainment programming 52 weeks a year.”

WWE weekly programming averages more viewers than the NBA, NASCAR, MLB, NHL and UFC. Both MONDAY NIGHT RAW and FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN feature a star-studded cast of WWE Superstars and Divas, and deliver a shot of adrenaline to viewers with over-the-top action, feats of athleticism and high octane drama.

MONDAY NIGHT RAW on USA is the most-watched, regularly scheduled, year-round program on cable, airing a live three-hour block every Monday night, 52 weeks a year. RAW has been a cable mainstay for more than 20 years and is consistently a top ten show on television. The three-hour block on USA averages 2.2M P18-49, 2.3M P25-54 and 5M total viewers P2+. The 2-hour FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN on Syfy averages 1.2M P18-49, 1.3M P25-54 and 3.2M total viewers P2+. The two programs have reached 37.5M people 2014 to-date.

In addition, E! -- in partnership with WWE and Bunim-Murray Productions -- will continue to broadcast the reality series TOTAL DIVAS, an unprecedented look inside the professional and personal lives of the WWE's leading ladies.

Indy star starts work for WWE NXT as a referee

Independent star Drake Younger, who has competed for indy companies Combat Zone Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, began work this weekend for WWE at NXT live events as a referee under his real name of Drake Wuertz. Younger was signed by WWE back in March and finished up on the independent scene on April 27 against former TNA star Joey Ryan in California. Wuertz is now on Twitter @WWEDrakeWuertz.

Daniel Bryan Injured

Daniel Bryan is in fact dealing with a neck injury, we can now confirm. The WWE World Heavyweight Champion is at Raw in Greenville, SC and the word is he will need time off.

While specifics of the injury are unknown, the talk earlier in the day was that it will alter storylines, with a creative meeting taking place to address it.

WWE cracks the list of USA Today's "most unusual public companies"

WWE is the third company listed in a USA Today website piece on the most unusual public companies. Check out the list at USAToday.com.

Rumor Mill - TNA's Production Crew Reportedly Threatens to Walk Out During Last Week's Impact Tapings

There were major concerns about money at this past week's set of TNA Impact Wrestling tapings in Orlando, specifically with the production crew.

People in production were upset about being behind on pay and it was said that if they weren't caught up on pay by a certain point, they were going to walk out in the middle of last week's sets of tapings.

These threats clearly made their way back to TNA management as checks were issued to people and everything cooled off. There was a 24-hour period where there was a lot of tension backstage.