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WWE News
WWE News: Recap of Linda McMahon's appearance on CNBC's "Mad Money," including current WrestleMania ticket revenue Mar 11, 2008 - 10:45:58 PM
WWE CEO Linda McMahon was on CNBC's "Mad Money" with Jim Cramer tonight to talk about WWE's financial position. Cramer introduced the segment by saying WWE's stock is a "dream come true" and an "undiscovered diamond in the rough" for investors, as the stock produces a high dividend yield and has high growth potential.
Cramer said many people on Wall Street don't buy WWE stock or don't know about WWE because they look down at the company and don't watch the product. He said the major Wall Street firms don't cover WWE, but he's always believed in the company, even if their financial results seem too good to be true.
Cramer then brought in Linda to talk about the company's growth. Linda said growth has accelerated recently because they're having fantastic results expanding internationally. She talked about opening offices in China, Japan, and Australia, and having successful tours in Western Europe while looking to expand to Eastern Europe right now.
Cramer asked if live event attendance internationally is like domestic events ten years ago. Linda said domestic business is picking up again. She said they're still not selling out live events domestically like they are internationally, but the domestic business is a growth opportunity.
On the topic of the recent doubling of the stock dividend, Linda said the McMahon family owns about 70 percent of WWE stock, so they wanted to reward the common shareholders, especially long-term investors, and also preserve cash for future investments.
Cramer asked if Wall Street under-covers the product because they don't know the product. "We're constantly trying to tell our story," she said. "We want to do a better (marketing) job of it certainly." Linda said that when she talks to members of the financial community, they're surprised by the various revenue streams the company has developed as a core media business.
They wrapped up talking about WrestleMania on March 30. Linda said they're currently up to 61,000 tickets sold and $5.5 million gross revenue. Before leaving, Linda handed Cramer the WWE spinner belt to wear for the end of the segment. "Thanks for making everyone money," Cramer said to close the segment.
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