WWE held their fourth quarter and full year earnings for 2011 conference call earlier this morning. The conference call was hosted by George Barrios and Vince McMahon. Michael Weitz opened up the conference introducing Vince who said that the company had a less than stellar fourth quarter and as a result a less than stellar year and said that 95% of the WWE’s problems came from the film division as well as TV licensing, with the latter due in part to the decision they made to hold back the product distribution of certain shows in the United States such as WWE NXT and WWE Superstars and stated that if the company can’t make their new approach for WWE Studios work, then it would signal the end of WWE Studios, however he is of the belief that their new strategy will work. Vince then stated that the WWE are in a good position to push their TV licensing and that there has never been such a demand for the WWE product as there is these days and then stated that WWE Superstars and WWE NXT were lost revenue sources, WWE Tough Enough was very successful and that they are in the development stages for WWE Legends House. Vince then stated that there is a great majority of fans with access to the internet loving their shows on YouTube and that they have a lot of new products in the queue moving forward.

Vince then stated that the company have done a great job in social media and that they feel good about where they are strategically and that they have great global brand awareness and said that a good indicator for the business is the live event attendance, which was up 7% for this quarter and thinks that is a good barometer for the business and thinks the company looks strong moving forward. Vince then stated that last week they were in Qatar (United Arab Emirates more so) for a live tour and it was very successful and said that there is a global growing demand for the WWE product before introducing George Barrios. Barrios then took to the mic and said that the earnings for the fourth quarter and the year overall were disappointing and said that the WWE Network is a big part of the company’s future and growth and said that they had problems with the film division and stated that licensing was down as well, they took a $4m hit for the potential WWE Network, WWE Survivor Series cost them more money than usual (due to doing only 281,000 buys which was lower than expected) and that online ad sales were also down. Barrios then talked over all the numbers and proceeded to state that traffic to WWE.com dropped a massive 22% as measured by page views and stated that on December 31st, 2011 the company had $165m in cash and investments and virtually no debt which makes their stock a very attractive option. Barrios then mentioned the company’s presence on social media, Twitter in particular and stated that the brands are going strong since they are the top shows on their respective networks, before introducing the Q and A session.

The first caller asked about when the WWE Network and when it would launch to which Vince McMahon noted that the network will launch sometime this year however there is no specific date as of now and said that the monetizations will be better for them than other start ups since they own everything that they will put on the network already. Vince stated that the company are very bullish on the WWE Network and that is why they want to do it right before they launch it completely. They were then asked about the fact that they are slowly but surely doing more events outside of the United States, to which George Barrios responded stating that it depends on logistics and demand. They were then asked how engaged the WWE fans are in this year’s WrestleMania to which Vince stated that it has been tremendous and said that part of that excitement for the WWE fans this year comes from bringing back stars from the past and mixing them alongside the present and future stars of this business and it is probably the greatest demand that the company have ever had for a WrestleMania event and said that next year will see some of the same at the Metlife Stadium for WrestleMania 29.

They were then asked how 2012 wold go financially for them as a company to which George stated that the expenses that they had last year they won’t have this year and that will help the bottom line without giving further details. They were then asked at what point would it be that they would pull the plug on WWE Films, to which Vince responded that they have new leadership and a different approach to things and they will give it time to establish itself as he thinks it will work, but noted that he believed that they had good plans in place in the past also and said that there is a specific time when they will say it’s not working and pull the plug but he doesn’t think that they will get to that point. Vince said that it is a business they should be in since they understand stories and their stars as well as marketing and said that they are in a better position than any studio to deliver product. They were then asked to project what kind of subscribers they would have for the WWE Network upon launch to which Vince responded that you don’t want to start a network unless you have a strong partner and said that they can take a number of forms and was then asked to give a benchmark for the launch however stated that he doesn’t want to say, but it will be substantial. They were then asked to reiterate earlier reports that they would spend between $15m – $25m on films this year, to which George Barrios stated that it was correct and that a lot of what is produced this year by the company will not be released in 2012.

They were then asked about their relationship with Google and YouTube to which George said that they would not be commenting on what they are being paid for their programming and said that Google knows what they bring to the table since they have so many streams out there and came to them specifically to deliver content. The next caller asked about WWE NXT and WWE Superstars and if they are holding them back on purpose to which Vince said that demand is so strong for their products that people want them and when the WWE Network debuts there will be a new home for those 2 shows. They were then asked about WWE Legends House and whether that is in demand from other places than the WWE Network to which Vince quickly responded yes. They were then asked about the demands on the workforce with the WWE Network launching this year to which George stated that they have budgeted $4m and that was mostly spent on workers and that they have brought some people in from the cable industry. They were then asked how many projects were attached to the $15m – $25m that they plan to spend in the film division to which George Barrios stated that it was between 4 to 8 films and that outside partners will also be putting money into the films.

They were then asked how they will report the WWE Network spending to which George Barrios said that they will file FCC guidelines and expects that there will be changes to the report when the WWE Network launches. Vince was then asked if he was commited to paying the current dividend and said that he doesn’t see any change coming to the dividend. They were then asked to put some colour on this year’s WrestleMania as it looks exciting to which Vince laughed at and stated that this year’s as well as next year’s WrestleMania in New Jersey will be great events. Vince said that he hopes everyone is looking forward to WrestleMania in just over 5 weeks and ended the question period thanking the fans and those in attendance for their support.