By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
TKO executives hosted a conference call on the company’s fourth quarter and 2025 full year earnings report that was released on February 25, 2026, at TKOgrp.com. The following are the WWE-related highlights of the call. Refresh the page for the latest updates.
-TKO Senior VP of Investor Relations Seth Zaslow read through the legalities and then turned things over to the hosts.
-CEO Ari Emanuel, President and COO Mark Shapiro, and CFO Andrew Schleimer hosted the call. Shapiro and Schleimer will handle the Q&A portion. Emanuel delivered the opening remarks and touted the company’s media rights deals, including WWE’s agreement with ESPN. Shapiro spoke more about WWE’s partnership with ESPN and touted the Netflix deal.
-Shapiro read through the highlights and touted WWE reaching its highest-ever arena gross for John Cena’s retirement match.
-Shapiro said the term “site fees” no longer covers everything involved, so they will be using the term “financial incentive packages” or “FIP” for short.
-“All I can say is, look out,” Shapiro said regarding Zuffa Boxing. He said they intend to build the boxing brand into a juggernaut.
-Schleimer read through the earnings report presentation and then took calls.
-The first caller asked if they had a preference between Warner Bros. Discovery ending up with Netflix or Paramount. Shapiro said he wasn’t getting pulled into that. The caller laughed and said he was joking. Shapiro said each has advantages, but they are just sitting back and watching it play out.
-The caller asked about Zuffa Boxing signing Conor Benn to a massive deal (reportedly $15 million for one fight) and how it’s upset some UFC fighters. Shapiro said the story has been overblown. “Dana White and Nick Khan, in that order, went out and signed Connor Benn,” Shapiro said. He blamed boxing promoter Eddie Hearn for stirring the pot. He stressed that Benn has only been signed for one superfight, but they hope that he will take part in their Paramount+ Contender series.
-Shapiro mentioned that the UFC show at the White House on June 14 will cost at least $60 million. He said it could move north of that figure, but it would not go lower. He spoke of having corporate sponsors and believes they can offset half of that expense. He emphasized that UFC will not be making money from the fight, but the goal is to expand their audience and viewership on Paramount+ due to the added exposure the event will bring.
-Shapiro mentioned “pulling out Dude Wipes” while addressing sponsorship deals.
-Another caller asked more about Zuffa Boxing. He said it’s early on WWE’s deal with ESPN and for UFC’s deal with Paramount, and he said it’s definitely early on Zuffa Boxing. He said Dana White and Nick Khan had a lot of incoming calls. He said people are excited that they are building the brand similarly to how they did UFC. He said they are putting a lot behind Zuffa Boxing because UFC, WWE, and PRB have long-term media rights deals. He feels that Zuffa can be big for TKO.
-The caller asked about operational and promotional lessons learned from running the Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, with WrestleMania running there next year. Shapiro introduced Nick Khan to answer the question. Khan said the Rumble was the first event ever held at the venue. He said WrestleMania will be held at the same venue that hosts the Asia Cup three weeks earlier. He said their team will be there throughout the soccer tournament.
-Shapiro said UFC was the first company to run at The Sphere in Las Vegas. He said they may be the first and only group to hold a show on the South Lawn at the White House. He joked that they don’t have any dates set with the Kremlin in Moscow, but they are open to doing future one-off events.
-Shapiro spoke about how they feel bullish “about the elasticity of WWE” when it comes to live events. He spoke again about TKO’s media rights and live events success, and added that he is pleased with their management team. Zaslow ended the call.
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