Vince McMahon loses 1/3 of his fortune in a day. What does this mean for the UFC?

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Just ran across this article talking about Vince McMahon lost $350 million--1/3 of his fortune, knocking him out of the billionaire ranks--after the WWE's stock plummeted.

One of the cited reasons? Lack of confidence in the WWE's online network, which apparently has only picked up 700,000 subscribers so far and is expected to lose around $50 million this year.

I know many of us were thinking that if the WWE network were successful, then we could see a similar move from the UFC sometime in the future. So what does this mean for the UFC? It appears that for now we're still stuck with high-priced PPVs.


Source: http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dis...n-loses-350-million-third-his-fortune-one-day
 
It means Dana is smart enough not to give PPV away for $10 a month.

The WWE Network banked on 2 million subscribers but barely have 1/3 of that. If they don't hit their goal when the network goes global, the stock will plummet even further.
 
Zuffa would blow loads if they had a steady 700,000 subscribers.

Sounds to me like the WWE had some seriously inflated projections.
 
It means Dana is smart enough not to give PPV away for $10 a month.

The WWE Network banked on 2 million subscribers but barely have 1/3 of that. If they don't hit their goal when the network goes global, the stock will plummet even further.

This. Including PPVs was obviously incredible for fans but extremely risky for the bottom line.
 
Seriously, just do the math.

If PPVs cost $50 and the WWE now includes them for the $10 monthly network fee, they need 5x the number of subscribers just to hit the same revenue $. And that's not taking into account the huge fixed costs in running the network.

Dana called this ahead of time.
 
Wasn't it the understanding that there would be no financial gain in this in the short term, that it was a more long term focus anyway?

They can adjust with time. If they were giving half the PPV cost to cable providers, they only need to charge $15 dollars to get the PPV's on the WWE network to make the same amount of money. I think the issue that comes into play is their fanbase and how tech savvy they really are. Not to harp on stereotypes but WWE fans aren't the "smartest" people. Same for MMA.
 
I expect UFC's fight pass to sputter rather quickly as well.

I can't even count the number of acquaintances I have who are bewildered and generally disgusted with the UFC for expecting us to shell out ANOTHER $10 a month for fights when hardcore followers are already asked to pay $50-60 a PPV - 10-15 times a year.

From the social circles I hang around in, no one likes the idea, and I've heard nothing but complaints over the last year about the UFC's dwindling quality and greedy expectations.

I think Dana White has a lot of say in a lot of this stuff, and I also think that's a bad thing in some aspects. A guy who can go buy a bunch of fucking snow to throw in his driveway in Vegas clearly doesn't have a firm grasp on the kind of financial situations the average American deals with.

I know I went from buying every PPV to about 3 a year in 2012. We're midway through 2014 and I've ordered a single PPV. Three years ago I would have been pre-ordering every damn show, happily.
 
Wasn't it the understanding that there would be no financial gain in this in the short term, that it was a more long term focus anyway?

.

its never the plan to lose 1/3 your value and it could get worse

vince should stick to choreographing wrestling moves, maybe hes just losing it at his age
 
Seriously, just do the math.

If PPVs cost $50 and the WWE now includes them for the $10 monthly network fee, they need 5x the number of subscribers just to hit the same revenue $. And that's not taking into account the huge fixed costs in running the network.

Dana called this ahead of time.

That math is wrong since half the PPV money went to the cable companies which are cut out of this deal completely
 
its never the plan to lose 1/3 your value and it could get worse

vince should stick to choreographing wrestling moves, maybe hes just losing it at his age

While I agree that losing 350,000,000$ is a little more than expected for financial loss, having your company for public offering and allowing the public to dictate your value on a day by day basis is why the WWE network was such a big risk.

UFC is still privately held/owned.

I thought WWE network, from the outside looking in, was a solid idea. Same for Fight Pass. I've had it since the beginning and I actually like that I can watch TUF's in Brazil and elsewhere while I'm at work or some downtime at home. I wish they didn't black out the american market when shows were on Fox because I would rather stream them.

Would you not pay 20$ for a PPV and 10$ a month for Fight Pass? Majority of newer TV's can wirelessly be connected to laptops (Windows 8 preferred). I have a different setup that allows me to do certain things that maybe others can't.
 
Dana is gonna sign all the big stars from WWE. Expect Brock vs Undertaker rematch in the UFC soon.
 
I bought 60 UFC PPVs in a row and now have the WWE Network. If the UFC got a WWE Network like model I would get it instantly. Its hard to make me give out 60 bucks for Mighty Mouse or Barao. Great fighters and love watching them but 60 bucks for any PPV that isn't a huge main event is now a hard sell for me.
 
I expect UFC's fight pass to sputter rather quickly as well.

I can't even count the number of acquaintances I have who are bewildered and generally disgusted with the UFC for expecting us to shell out ANOTHER $10 a month for fights when hardcore followers are already asked to pay $50-60 a PPV - 10-15 times a year.

From the social circles I hang around in, no one likes the idea, and I've heard nothing but complaints over the last year about the UFC's dwindling quality and greedy expectations.

I think Dana White has a lot of say in a lot of this stuff, and I also think that's a bad thing in some aspects. A guy who can go buy a bunch of fucking snow to throw in his driveway in Vegas clearly doesn't have a firm grasp on the kind of financial situations the average American deals with.

I know I went from buying every PPV to about 3 a year in 2012. We're midway through 2014 and I've ordered a single PPV. Three years ago I would have been pre-ordering every damn show, happily.

Cable TV will one day go the way of newspapers. It'll take a while, but it will happen. I pay for fightpass, and I'll keep doing it. I wish it had chromecast support, but it'll happen.

Why pay $100 a month for cable when I can get Hulu and Fightpass for $20? Plus, Amazon prime gets you free shipping plus movies for $100 a year. That's less than $30 a month.
 
I bought 60 UFC PPVs in a row and now have the WWE Network. If the UFC got a WWE Network like model I would get it instantly. Its hard to make me give out 60 bucks for Mighty Mouse or Barao. Great fighters and love watching them but 60 bucks for any PPV that isn't a huge main event is now a hard sell for me.

I've moved alot in the last 4 years. I wish I could pull all my cable bills to see how many PPV's I bought, plus at friends houses. It was a lot. It declined after my son was born because diapers are a consistent expense until this guy starts shitting on the pot.

UFC really needs to push certain PPV's at a lower cost. Title fights need to be at $60/hd and PPV's that have upper-echelon importance need to be around 35$/HD. Have 4 LARGE PPV's a year. Have 4-8 smaller onces a year. It's not that they don't have the stars in the UFC, they just aren't utilized properly.
 
Cable TV will one day go the way of newspapers. It'll take a while, but it will happen. I pay for fightpass, and I'll keep doing it. I wish it had chromecast support, but it'll happen.

Why pay $100 a month for cable when I can get Hulu and Fightpass for $20? Plus, Amazon prime gets you free shipping plus movies for $100 a year. That's less than $30 a month.

you know, I've got to say I really hope you're right. My Comcast bill is $189/month. If I buy a single UFC PPV that bastard jumps right up to about $250. That's just insane money for television/visual entertainment. Especially when so many of us are out working 40-60 hours a week, taking care of kids, rarely watching tv - yada yada

It's insane. I watch like 4 shows on TV and occasionally I'll have the time to sit and actually watch a movie. And I pay nothing less than $2,268 a year (that's with ZERO PPV purchases of ANY kind) for that. Disgusting.
 
The way things like this are reported are all for Headlines and not facts.

Vince lost 1/3rd of a fortune he never really had. To have the money would mean to give up the WWE, which he won't do. He can't borrow against the sick because if he loses money or interest rates go up he'll lose the company.

Vince has the same amount of money he had last week, his personal net worth is down but not how much money he has.

His bigger problems lay with the investigation into lying about figures, which could lose him actual money and the company if investors sue.

Remember don't listen to sports writers about issues involving money, it's one of the only things they know even less about than sports.
 
Damn! He only has $700 million left. Time to break out the Kraft dinner and canned dog food for dinner. Poor, poor Vince!
 
I bought 60 UFC PPVs in a row and now have the WWE Network. If the UFC got a WWE Network like model I would get it instantly. Its hard to make me give out 60 bucks for Mighty Mouse or Barao. Great fighters and love watching them but 60 bucks for any PPV that isn't a huge main event is now a hard sell for me.

I would buy fight pass if it included ppv. I dont watch enuff wwe to warrant the network.
 
Damn! He only has $700 million left. Time to break out the Kraft dinner and canned dog food for dinner. Poor, poor Vince!

this. 1/3 of a billion is not that big of a deal when you have a billion to start with.
 
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