Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EDR) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

160over90’s relationship with Anheuser-Busch also led to UFC’s new multiyear marketing partnership that features Bud Light as the official beer partner of the UFC in the U.S. Turning next to our Sports Data and Technology segment. During the fourth quarter, OpenBet and IMG ARENA secured notable wins, including significant partnerships with renowned betting and gaming operators and global data and streaming rights deals. I’ll share two examples. First, OpenBet commenced the long-term partnership with Finland’s government-owned betting operator, Veikkaus, that will see OpenBet’s technology power their sportsbook platform expanding the operator’s online and retail betting operations. Finland stands out as a key growth opportunity in the European sports betting landscape.

This launch in Finland follows major geographic wins for OpenBet in 2023 across Greece, Germany, Czech Republic and Canada with Australia and Brazil in focus for 2024. And in data and rights, IMG ARENA extended and augmented our partnerships with Roland-Garros and Wimbledon and doubled our data portfolio in soccer to over 23,000 annual events. Throughout the year, IMG ARENA also saw significant growth in their streaming portfolio, which now sits at 50,000 events annually. All told, Endeavor’s businesses showed both strength and resilience in 2023. With an already strong start to 2024 for WME, including more award wins than any other agency at the Emmy’s and Grammys. And on location hosting more than 15,000 guests at this month’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas, I am encouraged and optimistic about Endeavor’s year ahead.

With that, I’ll turn things over to Jason.

Jason Lublin: Thanks, Ari, and good morning, everyone. I’ll start by walking you through our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year. All comparisons will be to the fourth quarter and full year of 2022. For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, we generated $1.58 billion in consolidated revenue up $322.3 million or 26%. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $292.8 million, up $53.2 million or 22%. For the full year, revenue was $5.96 billion, up $692 million year-over-year or 13%. And adjusted EBITDA was $1.216 billion, up $52 million year-over-year or 5%. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $29.3 million compared to a net loss of $225.7 million a year ago. For the year, net income was $557.5 million, compared to a net income of $321.7 million a year ago.

Now I’ll walk you through each of our segments. Our Owned Sports Property segment generated revenue of $642.8 million in the fourth quarter, up $341.3 million or 113%. While the segment’s adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $224.7 million, up $82.3 million or 58%. On the year, the segment generated $1.82 billion in revenue up $483.5 million or 36% and adjusted EBITDA of $827 million, up $178.9 million or 28%. Segment revenue growth in the year was primarily driven by the acquisition of WWE, which contributed $383 million in the period from September 12 to December 31, 2023. As well as growth at UFC including higher media rights and content fees from contractual increases, increased live event revenue due to five more events with live audiences, one additional pay-per-view events and growth in partnerships from new categories and contractual increases.

Now turning to events, experiences and rights. The segment recorded revenue of $414.5 million in the quarter, down $35 million or 8% and adjusted EBITDA of $13.7 million, down $17 million or 55%. On the year, segment revenue was $2.2 billion, down $18.9 million and adjusted EBITDA was $228.1 million, down $66.7 million or 23%. The decrease in segment revenue in the year was primarily due to the sale of the IMG Academy and a decrease in on locations music touring business. These impacts were partially offset by growth from new and existing events across our portfolio, the timing of biennial and quadrennial events, which occurred in 2023 and increases in sports production. Segment adjusted EBITDA for the year was adversely affected by the sale of IMG Academy as well as certain factors on location, which we anticipated, including increased IoT investment and a challenging comparison driven by location and match up for the 2023 Super Bowl in Arizona versus 2022 in Los Angeles.

Moving on to our Representation segment. Revenue in the quarter was $427.4 million, up $18.9 million or 5%. Segment adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $103.4 million, down $20.5 million or 17%. For the full year, representation segment revenue was $1.54 billion up $32.3 million or 2%, and adjusted EBITDA was $391.1 million, down $79 million or 17%. While segment revenue growth in the year was adversely impacted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, it was more than offset by growth from our other businesses in our representation segment. On the year, segment adjusted EBITDA was adversely affected by the dual strikes and the revenue mix in our representation segment. In addition, the agency incurred higher cost as we increase agent head count particularly in strategic growth verticals, including sports and music.

Now turning to our Sports Data and Technology segment. Revenue in the quarter was $113.6 million, up $5.2 million or 5%. Segment adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $20.5 million, down $1.1 million or 5%. For the full year, segment revenue was $469.8 million, up $209.3 million or 80%, and adjusted EBITDA was $62.7 million, up $15 million or 31%. Segment revenue growth in the year was attributed to the inclusion of OpenBet for the full year as well as growth in betting data and streaming at IMG ARENA across a widening portfolio. Segment adjusted EBITDA in the year benefited from the inclusion of OpenBet, partially offset by higher rights costs at IMG ARENA. Moving on to our capital structure. We ended the year with $5.03 billion in debt and $1.17 billion in cash, resulting in $3.89 billion in net debt.

At year-end, our net leverage was approximately 3.2x. As we are in the midst of a strategic alternatives review, we will not be initiating annual guidance estimates for 2024. That said, I want to provide an update for 2024 and share our areas of focus for the year. Within OSP, we anticipate continued progress integrating TKO as we leverage our flywheel to create synergies and further unlock value. We expect growth to be driven by continued strength in live events, growth from partnerships and renewals of licensing agreements for UFC content in certain international markets. TKO was also focused on driving enhancements to ticketing yields across live events and securing site fees in key markets. At PBR, we’ve expanded our Teams series heading into its third season with Teams in Brooklyn and Oklahoma City, which sold for $22.5 million each.