Body-slammed by a steep drop in TV advertising revenue had World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. crying uncle as its fourth-quarter profit fell 35 percent versus a year ago.
The quarter ending
April 30 had the company's net income at $10.6 million, compared with $16.1 million a year ago. Revenue declined to $114.3 million from $118.3 million in the year earlier period. This fazed Wall
Street a little. Analysts were expecting WWE to get to 13 cents a share; and WWE got to 15 cents a share in net profits. Still WWE's stock sank 4.5 percent to $16.23.
WWE said live and
televised entertainment revenue was 10 percent lower to $92.3 million from the lack of domestic cable advertising revenue. National advertising revenue on USA Network, sank 82 percent to $2.2 million
due to a restructured USA Network-WWE program distribution agreement.
Analysts say WWE has failed to establish well-known popular characters--such as "The Rock"--of years ago.
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