These are the dark days of wrestling. When World Wrestling Entertainment
Last night, the company revealed it will post a loss for its fiscal second quarter. While the wrestling promoter faults a litigation charge for the shortfall, it can't deny it has real problems that need to be addressed.
The same platform that launched careers is now caught between The Rock and a hard place. Turnout at its live events and television ratings have been weak. The pay-per-view monster might as well be branded pay-per-few these days.
With the company expecting to report no more than $390 million in revenue in 2002, it will mark the second consecutive year the top line has dipped. Earnings will fall for the third year in a row, too, as it pegs fiscal year operating income to come in between $27 million and $29 million.
But if the temptation here is to tag out and short the living daylights out of the stock, consider that WWE still sports a sparkling balance sheet, with $4 a share in cash. It has been trimming its overhead in recent quarters, too. While Raw on Viacom's
Are the McMahons clever enough to script a turnaround? That remains to be seen, but don't call the Undertaker just yet.