WWE issued the following press release on their third quarter earnings results for fiscal year 2007. WWE will host a conference call on its corporate website at 11:00 a.m. EST to discuss the quarter.

STAMFORD, Conn., November 1, 2007 - World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2007. Revenues totaled $108.1 million as compared to $93.2 million in the prior year quarter while operating income was $13.4 million as compared to $12.5 million in the prior year quarter. Net income was $8.5 million, or $0.12 per share, as compared to $9.2 million, or $0.13 per share, in the prior year quarter.

“In addition to the $12.8 million in film related revenues, we posted higher revenues fromboth the Live and Televised and Digital Media segments in the third quarter,” said Linda
McMahon, Chief Executive Officer. “We also announced the development and implementation of our strategic initiative for continued international expansion. We are establishing new regional offices in Brazil and Australia to complement our current offices in Canada, the UK and China. This will enable senior leadership to be on the ground in these locations, and position our company for continued growth and provide increased access to our expanding WWE fan base,” concluded Mrs. McMahon.

Results By Business Segment

Live and Televised Entertainment
Revenues from our Live and Televised Entertainment businesses were $68.6 million for the current quarter as compared to $65.6 million in the prior year quarter, representing a
5% increase.

• Live Event revenues were $20.1 million as compared to $17.3 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to an increase in the number of international events.

• There were 78 total events, including 15 international events, during the current quarter as compared to 102 events, including 8 international events, in the prior year quarter. The prior year quarter also included 27 stand alone ECW® events. In the current quarter, our ECW events were co-branded and included as part of our SmackDown® events.

• International events generated $6.6 million of revenues as compared to $3.2 million in the prior year. 10 out of the 15 international events in the current quarter were structured as buy-out deals with guaranteed fixed revenues as compared to 5 buy-out deals in the prior year quarter. The remaining international events in which we sold tickets directly yielded an average ticket price of approximately $77.75 in the current quarter as compared to $66.30 in the prior year quarter.

• North American events generated $13.5 million of revenues as compared to $14.0 million in the prior year. North American average attendance was approximately 5,500 in the current quarter as compared to 4,300 in the prior year quarter, an increase of 28%. The average ticket price for North American events was approximately $38.92 in the current quarter as compared to $35.17 in the prior year quarter. Offsetting these increases was the absence of the standalone ECW events in the prior year quarter.

• Pay-Per-View revenues were $18.8 million as compared to $19.7 million in the prior year quarter. There were three pay-per-view events produced in each quarter.

The details for the number of buys are as follows:

The Great American Bash...................... 229 227
SummerSlam............................................ 537 529
Unforgiven................................................. 210 289

• Venue Merchandise revenues were $3.9 million as compared to $4.4 million in the prior year quarter, primarily reflecting a decrease in per capita spending by our fans to approximately $10.15 in the current quarter as compared to $11.12 in the prior year quarter. The per capita spend in the current quarter was negatively impacted by a decline in the number of T-shirts sold at arenas, due primarily to our expanded domestic licensing and the availability of our products at local retail outlets.

• Television Rights Fees revenues were $22.8 million as compared to $22.5 million in the prior year quarter.

• WWE 24/7™ revenues were $1.4 million as compared to $0.6 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting growth in the number of subscribers for our video-on-demand program.

Consumer Products

Revenues from our Consumer Products businesses were $19.0 million versus $21.7 million in the prior year quarter, representing a 13% decrease.

• Home Video net revenues were $5.7 million as compared to $11.4 million in the prior year quarter. The decline in Home Video revenues primarily reflects changes in the timing of new releases as there were no new titles released in the current quarter, excluding the monthly releases of our pay-per-view events. There are several new titles scheduled for release in the upcoming 4th quarter, including retrospective titles on Superstars Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels, and John Cena, among others.

• Licensing revenues were $9.4 million as compared to $7.2 million in the prior year quarter, primarily reflecting increases in apparel and toy related sales. Revenues increased by $1.2 million in both the apparel and toy categories as compared to the prior year quarter.

• Magazine publishing net revenues were $3.9 million as compared to $3.1 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting increased newsstand and subscription copies sold. We published three issues of WWE Magazine in each quarter and published one additional magazine special in the current quarter.

Digital Media
Revenues from our Digital Media related businesses were $7.7 million as compared to $5.9 million in the prior year, representing a 31% increase.

• WWE.com revenues were $4.6 million as compared to $2.6 million in the prior year quarter. Web-based advertising increased by $1.3 million, or 68%, while wirelesscontent revenues increased by $0.7 million as compared to the prior year quarter.

• WWEShop revenues were $3.1 million as compared to $3.3 million in the prior year quarter. The number of orders processed during the current quarter declined by 9%, but was offset by an increase in the average per order spend by our customers to $53.58, as compared to $50.05 per order in the prior year quarter.

WWE Films
Revenues from our WWE Films segment were $12.8 million in the current quarter. WWE only participates in film revenue when our distributors have recouped their print and advertising costs and the results have been reported to us. This is the first quarter in which we have recorded film revenue, primarily relating to our feature film “The Marine”. Our capitalized feature film production asset balance is amortized in proportion with the recognition of revenue. As a result, we have amortized approximately $10.0 million of feature film assets, yielding approximately $2.8 million in profit contribution for feature films.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline