WWE stock drops big after firing George Barrios & Michelle Wilson

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://t.co/IMNLh866V9">pic.twitter.com/IMNLh866V9</a></p>&mdash; DanGodOfThunder (@Dangodofthunder) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dangodofthunder/status/1223000072935346176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Shit

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

It's at 62 right now.

[slik]

Time for you to sell sell sell

[Mr. Nerfect]

Weird fucking story. Barrios & Wilson were figured in big.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Time for you to sell sell sell

Or buy low.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

the "upgrade" of the network has been a disaster. Terrible interface and it no longer works with Microsoft's typing interface.

[ClockShot]

Jesus, that's a huuuuuuuuuuuuge hit.

Unless Vince got some good news at tomorrow's opening bell, it might just go down even further.

[ClockShot]

Then again, earnings are being reported today...….

[Emperor Smeat]

Next week's fiscal report must be bad if they already resorted to a management shakeup.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Possibly just a normal restructuring to cut executive costs. Doesn't necessarily spell disaster, and I think they had a Saudi show that would have made them profitable. But they will no doubt be fielding questions about house show attendance. Although that's got nothing to do with Barrios and Wilson.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Hmm...🤔🤔🤔 And yet I cant find a single article about AEW’s stock dropping...

I wonder why that is... 🤔🤔🤔

[RP]

SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL

LETS TANK THIS MOTHERFUCKER!!!

AEW AEW AEW AEW AEW AEW!

[Mr. Nerfect]

WWE definitely going out of business. AEW to hire Barrios and Wilson, become publicly traded and become the new global leader in sports entertainment.

[JimmyMess]

https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/trading-places-dan-aykroyd-eddie-murphy.jpeg

[slik]

Vinny Mac kissing the ground for the FOX and Saudi deals r/n


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Stock price now $49.79, 20.5% drop in an hour</p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1223008780553609216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Most people think it will go up when things get back into place. Might be a good time to buy.

[Droford]

the "upgrade" of the network has been a disaster. Terrible interface and it no longer works with Microsoft's typing interface.

It works a hell of a lot better on Roku though

[Emperor Smeat]

If it wasn't for him being in absolute control of the company, Vince would have been outed from power after this move.

Within the span of a year, their stocks went from a high of around $100 to getting halved despite the new massive tv deals kicking in and this year already guaranteed to be their most profitable ever in company history.

Wouldn't be surprised if another lawsuit by the investors gets filed against WWE since the timing of those firings and their upcoming fiscal report just makes everything look really shady at the moment.

[slik]

STD u should invest in Boeing instead

[Droford]

Insert witty stock meme here

[Droford]

Hmm...🤔🤔🤔 And yet I cant find a single article about AEW’s stock dropping...

I wonder why that is... 🤔🤔🤔

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🗣️“When they start doing better numbers, goes public and starts selling stock... &quot;<br><br>Big Sexy <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealKevinNash</a> told me at STARRCASTII that whilst <a href="https://twitter.com/AEWrestling?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEWrestling</a> is on WWE's radar, they aren't in competition just yet! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDoN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDoN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestlingTravel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WrestlingTravel</a><a href="https://t.co/VXUgBF1aV8">pic.twitter.com/VXUgBF1aV8</a></p>&mdash; Alex McCarthy (@AlexM_talkSPORT) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexM_talkSPORT/status/1132274937136238592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Most people think it will go up when things get back into place. Might be a good time to buy.

Can I just say that I love that you don’t watch WWE but are deeply invested in the inner workings of their corporate structure

[Emperor Smeat]

Seems one potential issue leading to Barrios firing is the rumor of him trying to shut down NXT UK due to the huge sums of money being flushing down the toilet while Triple H and others fought back against his plans.

Also seems WWE's recent decision to scale back on house show events to save money managed to piss off their locker room since wrestlers are now going to take a huge hit on house show earnings during the time of the year when WWE usually is the most profitable.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If it wasn't for him being in absolute control of the company, Vince would have been outed from power after this move.

Within the span of a year, their stocks went from a high of around $100 to getting halved despite the new massive tv deals kicking in and this year already guaranteed to be their most profitable ever in company history.

Wouldn't be surprised if another lawsuit by the investors gets filed against WWE since the timing of those firings and their upcoming fiscal report just makes everything look really shady at the moment.

That seems a bit dramatic. Vince, for right or wrong, is idolized by his investors. Stock would take a massive dip if he decided to move on. And the TV deals only kicked in for the quarter they are about to talk about. I'm not sure if firing Barrios and Wilson ahead of those is a great look if they had too much to worry about.

But it has got people speculating about exactly what is in those reports. Would it be illegal for Vince to fire Barrios and Wilson to lower stock in order to buy more back and sell it when they get a boost from the next three quarters and the TV rights money? Is that too close to insider trading? Is there enough plausible deniability there?

Barrios has been selling his stock for weeks, apparently. It's probably bad news if the TV rights deals and the Saudi shows aren't enough to cover WWE's expenses. And by "probably" I mean "holy shit, definitely," but there's no way it'd be that bad. And they wouldn't fight so hard to keep NXT UK or fire Barrios and Wilson if it were going to look that bad in a few weeks.

Can I just say that I love that you don’t watch WWE but are deeply invested in the inner workings of their corporate structure

I wouldn't say I'm deeply invested, lol. Honestly, business, stocks and all that is nowhere near my forte. But I do enjoy discussing it, and find talking about the business of wrestling more interesting than the wrestling these days.

Seems one potential issue leading to Barrios firing is the rumor of him trying to shut down NXT UK due to the huge sums of money being flushing down the toilet while Triple H and others fought back against his plans.

Also seems WWE's recent decision to scale back on house show events to save money managed to piss off their locker room since wrestlers are now going to take a huge hit on house show earnings during the time of the year when WWE usually is the most profitable.

I wonder what their vision is for NXT UK? Because I look at it and just don't see something that is going to become anything. Am I missing something? I think it would have been much more beneficial to open another Performance Center in the US. Something in Tennessee, maybe? Prop up Tom Prichard and Kane's school. Allows you to split up your PC talent a bit more and put on distinctly different products and trade talent when they are getting boring or stale. I guess the UK could technically do that, but it kind of just feels like an indy.

The WWE PC was chewing up money too, but then they got NXT on USA and that was all fixed.

House shows are a problem. They've got to make them more interesting and/or create better television that is going to heat up your product and create stars, in turn driving attendance up and making them worthwhile. It seems the initiative to do that started at the Rumble and on Raw. We'll see how it goes.

Maybe this brand split is, overall, a bad idea. Doesn't that always hurt the house show business? Might be time to bring the rosters together, cut a lot of the talent that are getting up there in age and just haven't worked out, and get some sort of singular vision towards a genuine wrestling product. But I dunno -- that's my solution for everything.

[Emperor Smeat]

WWE and Triple H had no real vision for NXT UK beyond wanting to get their grubby hands on the British wrestling renaissance that was going on at any cost. Once they got a foothold established, they then started muscling in to make sure they would be the only ones to really benefit from it.

That included trying to knee cap ITV's World of Sport revival despite not needing any help due to ITV's incompetence and structured the partnership deals so it would benefit WWE the most and include a poison pill against those friendly companies.

RevPro might be the only real threat left for NXT UK but WWE has a bunch of promotions they can lean on to prevent them from ever hurting their plans for the region.

WWE is trying to repeat the same process in Japan in regards to the lack of a real plan and trying to just buy out potential competition in order to use it as the basis for NXT Japan and to dethrone NJPW as the dominate force there.

[Emperor Smeat]

Only reason Vince is still idolized by investors is due to investors still being wary over the idea of Triple H and Stephanie running the company after Vince leaves and/or dies. Even then, investors have also started to become wary of Vince and his leadership since around late 2018.

NXT's original purpose was just Triple H trying to prove to investors he can run a wrestling company and grow it without needing Vince around to be in charge. For the most part, Vince is pretty much hands off on anything NXT related unless it involves money or signings, which all he does is just approve whatever Triple H and co need.

[xrodmuc316]

Seems like a giant over reaction based on 2 executives being shown the door.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Only reason Vince is still idolized by investors is due to investors still being wary over the idea of Triple H and Stephanie running the company after Vince leaves and/or dies. Even then, investors have also started to become wary of Vince and his leadership since around late 2018.

NXT's original purpose was just Triple H trying to prove to investors he can run a wrestling company and grow it without needing Vince around to be in charge. For the most part, Vince is pretty much hands off on anything NXT related unless it involves money or signings, which all he does is just approve whatever Triple H and co need.

They're not sold on Hunter, but they're definitely pro-Vince. He's the guy that has put together the team that has made them billions of dollars. I'm right there with him promising to turn around house shows and it being a bad look that he hasn't, but I don't think the board wants Vince's head for getting rid of Barrios and Wilson.

That's what I've theorized lots of moves are recently. I'm pretty certain that's why Heyman and Bischoff were put into the positions they were.

[Emperor Smeat]

Seems like a giant over reaction based on 2 executives being shown the door.

Those two were pretty much responsible for WWE's mega tv deals, WWE Network's launch, the Saudi deal, and improving their sponsorship image issues.

Those two were also the most important people in the company outside of the McMahon family.

So it makes sense Wall Street freaked out big time, especially with WWE not bothering to name a real successor right away and this happening a week before the next fiscal report.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If the fiscal report were that bad, why would they fire them now? Doesn't that kind of make it more alarming? The idea of the scapegoat is to be a surrogant for the company's woes -- not get blood on everyone.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Does seem very weird it happened in the same day. That's why I think it might be some sort of trick to lower the stock with both of them going just so they can boost it up with good news in Feb.

Just doesn't make sense that WWE would be going over their finances and thinking "Fuck! We've fucked up! Welp, we better fire the only two people making these sorts of good decisions!"

But WCW often displayed that level of incompetence, so who knows?

[Emperor Smeat]

If the fiscal report were that bad, why would they fire them now? Doesn't that kind of make it more alarming? The idea of the scapegoat is to be a surrogant for the company's woes -- not get blood on everyone.

That's pretty much why Wall Street freaked out since what they did isn't what normally healthy companies do.

This upcoming fiscal report being underwhelming has been an open secret for the past month or so. Like its already been hinted the Network numbers are going to be bad and WWE is still trending downwards pretty much everywhere except tv.

Also would be a huge blunder on WWE's end if this was just a ploy to artificially fudge the stocks since that opens themselves up to a SEC investigation and potential serious trouble afterwards.

[Mr. Nerfect]

But those things being down are expected, so why bungle the stock?

[Mr. Nerfect]

And if the news is bad then that's just going to make stock drop even further.

[Emperor Smeat]

Yeah especially now that there are some rumblings of WWE's tv deal with USA Network for NXT is way worse than what was being speculated.

Instead of being around $30-$60 million per year, the real number might actually be closer to $0.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As discussed on both the new Flagship and Wrestlenomics Radio eps released earlier tonight, an interesting aspect of next Thursday's WWE quarterly report will be just how much money WWE is receiving from USA for NXT. There are some industry whispers that the actual number is $0.</p>&mdash; Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/1223120124460187650?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, that's not as good as it could be, lol. Is that before or after production costs? It still wouldn't make the Raw, SmackDown and Saudi deals obsolete.

[Mr. Nerfect]

When I say production costs, I don't only mean getting NXT on the air, but the Performance Center and developmental was running in the red for a while. Is it that they make $0 once all that is paid off, or is it that USA actually transfers $0 to WWE for NXT?

Even then, is the difference between making $600 million per year and $550 million per year really worth firing Barrios and Wilson over? As if they didn't know when they made the deal in the first place?

[Emperor Smeat]

Assuming its true, its the actual money USA Network is giving to WWE for NXT to air on their network.

Also assuming its true, it would help explain how that tv deal was done soo quickly when before WWE was way more interested in FOX buying NXT and being in no rush to get a tv deal signed until AEW made their own tv announcement.

[Mr. Nerfect]

But wasn't FOX looking to get it for FS1 for actual money? I dunno, something seems weird about that. And WWE had months to get a deal ready with USA when they new AEW were going with TNT.

I've been so sleepy today, I didn't realize that the stock actually got higher, lol. I was under the impression it had set at a 20% drop when I saw Slik's post. My bad. Yeah, WWE's fine, lol.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Barrios and Wilson probably don't see the sense in setting up Performance Centers all over the world when they are primarily a US-based entertainment company with a state of the art facility in the US, costing them millions of the billions they are earning. They feel they've already got world domination and WWE actually want to spend money to have MORE!

[Destor]

Stock already showing signs of rebounding. 72 hours itll prob fully recover. Good time to buy if youre interested

[Destor]

Course this all hinges on the presser

[Destor]

If its bad then big oofs comin

[Destor]

If they cleared 180 theyll be fine. If they come in below that the stock will fall again.

[ClockShot]

Still in freefall. Down under $50 with 20 minutes to go before the closing bell.

Although, it looked liked it spiked back to normal sometime around 6:30 last night then plummeted again.

[Destor]

Its finishing higher today than yesterday. That isnt free fall. At all. And it didnt recover to normal last night either. It lost about 30%. Rebounded about 33% of the loss and then dropped about 5% of the rebound. Still trending up though from day to day.


Everything hinges on the feb 6th report.

[Destor]

And if that comes under projections its gonna be real REAL bad

[Mr. Nerfect]

Pretty sure the Khans are going to buy it for $2 million.

[Emperor Smeat]

Meltzer ended up debunking the rumor of WWE getting close to nothing for the NXT tv deal and claimed Voices of Wrestling didn't talk to any real tv insiders who actually would know about the NXT situation.

Just to shut this one down. The story about NXT and USA being a $0 deal is "total nonsense" direct quote, from someone who would know literally everything on that subject.

Voices of Wrestling responded back basically claiming they never reported that rumor to begin with despite implying before that was the case.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think once again the fine posters of <a href="https://twitter.com/WredditOfficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WredditOfficial</a> took a tweet that said &quot;we've heard speculation&quot; and decided that &quot;WE&quot; &quot;reported&quot; it so basically, their usual bullshit. -Rich <a href="https://t.co/FO0sSbj8fU">https://t.co/FO0sSbj8fU</a></p>&mdash; Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/1223311211112083456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Has Vince McMahon picked up any more stock? The more this goes on the more I think that firing Barrios and Wilson might have been to intentionally sink the stock for a moment, knowing that the 2019 Q4, 2020 Q1 and 2020 Q2 reports are going to be good. None of the information Vince is acting on would be anything other than public knowledge. TV deals were announced in 2018 and the Saudi deals have been going on since the same year.