World Wrestling Entertainment beats Q2 estimates, re-states financials after Vince McMahon probe

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
WWE,
-0.51%
said Tuesday its second-quarter net income rose to $49 million, or 58 cents a share, from $29.2 million, or 34 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue grew to $328.2 million from $265.6 million in the year-ago period. Analysts were expecting earnings of 57 cents a share and revenue of $324.4 million, according to a FactSet survey. The company also said it wrapped up a probe of its former CEO Vince McMahon, who resigned on July 22. A special committee identified $19.6 million in unrecorded expenses, which will be paid by McMahon. “The company has determined that, while the amount of unrecorded expenses was not material in any individual period in which the unrecorded expenses arose, the aggregate amount of unrecorded expenses would be material if recorded entirely in the second quarter of 2022,” the company said. WWE said it’s revising its previously issued financial statements to record the unrecorded expenses for the years ended 2019, 2020 and 2021, as well as the first quarter of 2021 and 2022. Shares of WWE rose 0.5% in premarket trades.