Earnings Call Transcript - TKO Q1 2026

Operator, Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to TKO's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. I will now hand the call over to Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations.

Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations

Good afternoon, and welcome to TKO's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. A short while ago, we issued a press release, which you can view on our Investor Relations website. A recording of this call will also be available via our website for at least 30 days. After prepared remarks from Ari Emanuel, TKO's Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer; Mark Shapiro, TKO's President and Chief Operating Officer; and Andrew Schleimer, TKO's Chief Financial Officer, we will open the call for questions. Mark and Andrew will be handling the Q&A. The purpose of this call is to provide you with information regarding our first quarter 2026 performance. I want to remind everyone that the information discussed will include forward-looking statements and/or projections that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for further detail. If these risks or uncertainties were to materialize or any assumptions prove incorrect, our results may differ materially from those expressed or implied on this call. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them in light of new information or future events, except as legally required. Our commentary today will also include non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends. These measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics can be found in our press release issued today as well as the information posted on our IR website. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Ari.

Ari Emanuel, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Seth. 2026 is off to a formidable start, especially considering the macro environment. The key growth drivers we outlined in February, media rights, live events and experiences, global partnerships and financial incentive packages, all delivered as planned in the first quarter, in line with our guidance. We are introducing our live events and experiences to new markets around the world while capitalizing on all the revenue generators inside our machine. And our newer properties, most notably Zuffa Boxing, are on accelerated growth tracks. TKO sits squarely at the center of a growing sports and entertainment ecosystem. As AI transforms how content is created and consumed, the value of our IP and properties increases. Our content is live, it's communal, it's scarce, and no algorithm can replicate it. Reflecting our conviction in TKO and its long-term value, we've announced an incremental $1 billion share repurchase authorization, complementing the existing program, which we expect will be largely complete in the near term. We firmly believe TKO is built for what's ahead. Mark will take you through the quarter in greater detail.

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

Thanks, Ari. As we said on our last earnings call, 2026 is a year of execution. Q1 performance has now validated that focus. We're activating our new media rights deals. Our live events box office business has continued momentum and as such, our financial incentive packages pipeline is growing. Q1 results reflect the uplift from new rights deals, demand in the experiential economy and progress toward year-over-year EBITDA growth in excess of 40%. Before I get into highlights from the first quarter, I want to address activity in the Middle East and neighboring markets. First and foremost, we are firmly moving ahead with our scheduled events. Building on a successful debut in 2025, UFC returns to Azerbaijan with UFC FIGHT NIGHT BAKU on June 27. That same night, WWE will host Night of Champions from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This historic TKO doubleheader reflects a commitment by us and our respective partners to bring world-class events to fans across the region, even despite a challenging environment. I would add that following the news of PIF withdrawing its funding in LIV Golf, our partners in Saudi Arabia have confirmed that will not be the case with TKO. Their commitment to our properties in 2026 and beyond is unwavering. As such, after these two events, we expect the remainder of our 2026 slate in the Middle East, comprised of six events inclusive of UFC, WWE and Zuffa Boxing, to take place as planned. The demand is real, our partners are committed and we are leaning in. TKO benefits from having defensive model business characteristics. Now an update on our growth drivers, beginning with media rights. UFC's Paramount+ debut on January 24 set the bar, reaching more homes than any UFC events in nearly a decade, but it was our number of events in March that showed the real power and potential of this partnership. Our first CBS simulcast, UFC 326, was the most watched live UFC event since 2016. The CBS audience alone was more than 270% above last year's UFC average on linear before accounting Paramount+ streaming. That's the sampling engine at work. New fans are discovering UFC on CBS and Paramount+, and they are staying. Equally important, our content is now more accessible than ever for our fans. Both dynamics are real, and both are showing up in the numbers. At WWE, our ESPN partnership is gaining traction. Elimination Chamber at the end of February drew a meaningful year-over-year viewership increase on ESPN Unlimited, which is still building its subscriber count and distribution. Just a few weeks ago, WrestleMania 42 had strong ratings across both ESPN and ESPN2, including Day 1, Saturday's broadcast, marking ESPN2's most viewed telecast of the year. Our existing media rights partnerships continue to expand in scope as well. When we announced the ESPN deal last August, we noted that we had retained several content categories for further monetization, including the WWE Archive and NXT PLEs. We've now turned both into incremental revenue gains. Early in Q1, Netflix became the official U.S. home of WWE's archive, which comprises decades of WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble content. Netflix confirmed this deal actually in direct response to early success they've had with WWE's premium content, not to mention the traction they are witnessing with the second season of Unreal, our WWE docuseries. Just last week, we announced the CW, already the home of NXT's weekly Tuesday night programming, will become the exclusive home of all NXT PLEs, adding some 20 live broadcasts to a partnership that has made NXT the network's top-rated program among key demos. Suffice to say, strong secular tailwinds persist in the sports media ecosystem. Now turning to live events, where demand across our portfolio continues to build. At UFC, live events sold out in the first quarter from Las Vegas to London and Sydney to Seattle, where we recorded our highest ever Fight Night gate in North America. We anticipate that momentum will carry into the second quarter with all eyes on UFC Freedom 250 at the White House, a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle on June 14. Ram Trucks and Crypto.com are signed as co-presenting partners of Freedom 250 and the limited marketing inventory available for this singular event is now sold out. I mentioned on our last call that we anticipated losing $30 million on UFC Freedom 250, and that's still the case despite meaningfully increased costs associated with an expanded fight card and the two-day festivalization of this event on the Ellipse, which is adjacent to the White House. The UFC calendar keeps building beyond that with financial incentive package-backed events taking place in Philadelphia and Serbia later this summer, further expanding our footprint into new markets with growing fan bases. On that note, at WWE, we successfully staged our first ever Royal Rumble outside North America and Elimination Chamber in Chicago became the second highest arena gate in company history. Meanwhile, across our WWE main roster touring schedule, live events from Lubbock, which was on Valentine's Day, to Laredo, which took place just over a week ago, sold out. Two months and just a 500-mile distance between the two cities, both sellouts. The underlying demand for our live events is indeed resilient and durable. Last month's WrestleMania 42 was a highly successful and profitable event. In fact, more than 106,000 fans showed up over two nights in Las Vegas. And financial incentive package economics were meaningfully ahead of last year. Now separately, we fielded some investor questions on WWE demand and the state of Creative, driven by online commentary and the year-over-year WrestleMania ticket sales performance. Let me say that we are not concerned about the ticket performance whatsoever as it was unrealistic to expect year two growth in Las Vegas. Even with that, WrestleMania 42 was still one of the highest gates in WWE history and easily outperformed anywhere else we could have staged it. As it relates to Creative, there will always be periodic fan dissatisfaction around creative execution, commercial load and celebrity usage. We listen to all the feedback. We do not turn a deaf ear, but these are not new criticisms. Lastly, both our global partnerships and financial incentive package targets are tracking as planned. Our pipeline is vibrant for our multiyear calendar of events and inventory, putting us in line with the guidance we have previously communicated. Pivoting to the balance of our portfolio, On Location successfully delivered the Milano Cortina Olympic Experiential Hospitality program for more than 100,000 guests and closed the first quarter with meaningful LA28 Olympic sales. For FIFA World Cup 2026, experiential hospitality sales ended the quarter at over two times any previous World Cup program in history and are firmly on track to meet or even exceed expectations. At IMG, we are powering Apple's debut season as the U.S. broadcaster of Formula 1, integrating every feed to their platform and producing content from our Stockley Park headquarters in the U.K. We have also agreed to a long-term strategic partnership with World Rugby ahead of the 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cups in North America. I would also underscore IMG's success in the global distribution of our boxing superfights, right on strategy. These signature developments are illustrative of IMG's industry-leading expertise across advisory appointments on media rights negotiations, production, brand partnerships and event management. IMG is truly one of one. Next up, PBR. Professional Bull Riders opened the year with record performance in seven markets, including its debut at Boston's TD Garden and its largest ever attendance at Madison Square Garden in January. PBR's Team Series has also approved a two franchise expansion, expected to grow from 10 teams to 12 teams for the 2027 season. When we launched the league five years ago, teams sold for roughly $3 million each, increasing to just over $22 million in the first expansion round in 2024. Now just two years later, we expect new ownership groups to pay multiples of that. Finally, turning to Zuffa Boxing, where our progress is exceeding our internal growth plan and timeline. We've already signed more than 100 fighters. We've staged five events with solid viewership on Paramount+, and we've secured a multiyear deal with Sky Sports for the U.K. and Ireland, two of the most pivotal and important boxing markets in the world. We've also signed media rights deals in more than 15 additional territories spanning EMEA and APAC. This is the IMG thesis and strategy at work. IMG is responsible for all the deals across all the territories. And now with events about to depart the Meta APEX in Las Vegas and go out on the road, the next phase of our growth plan is underway. In summary, Q1 at TKO was as we anticipated. And the growth drivers I just walked you through are not just performing, they're compounding. Engagement metrics across viewership and ratings, social media clicks and views, global brand partnership demand and the aforementioned live attendance remain rock solid. Andrew will now take you through the financial results and outlook.

Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer

Good afternoon. As Ari and Mark highlighted, 2026 is off to a strong start. We delivered positive operating and financial performance across our businesses and as such, are reaffirming our full year outlook. Before I get into more detail on our financial results, I want to comment on our events calendar as well as trends we're seeing in consumer demand as we know these are topics on investors' minds. We're closely monitoring the developments in the Middle East and the potential implications on our business. We're in close contact with our partners in and around the region, and we're actively tracking government advisories and security assessments. For the avoidance of doubt and as previously announced, we're planning for and moving forward with the events that we have scheduled in the region on the same dates we anticipated when we set our plan for the start of the year. We have two events scheduled for the last Saturday in June, a WWE PLE Night of Champions in Riyadh and a UFC Fight Night in Baku, Azerbaijan. The balance of our planned activity includes an event in Abu Dhabi in late July and several events in the fourth quarter. With respect to consumer behavior, as Mark discussed, we continue to see healthy demand for premium live events across our portfolio as TKO is firmly situated in the center of this ecosystem. Our business benefits from a high percentage of contracted revenue, including media rights, global partnerships, financial incentive packages and consumer products licensing anchored by multiyear high-margin fixed fee agreements with annual escalators that provide attractive visibility, predictability and cash flow generation. This provides us with a unique durable platform to drive monetization. Moving to our consolidated results for the first quarter. We generated revenue of $1.597 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $550 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 34%. Revenue increased 26%, adjusted EBITDA increased 32% and adjusted EBITDA margin increased approximately 150 basis points as compared to the prior year. UFC generated revenue of $401 million in the quarter, an increase of 12% or $41 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $255 million, an increase of 12% or $27 million. UFC's adjusted EBITDA margin was 63%, on par with the prior year period. UFC had nine total events in the first quarter of '26 compared to 11 total events in the first quarter of 2025. Event mix shifted slightly with both the first quarter of this year and last having three numbered events. However, as we previewed on our last call, Q1 '26 included only six Fight Nights compared to eight in the prior year period. Q1 2025 also benefited from the Fight Night in Saudi Arabia that carried a meaningful financial incentive package. Later this year, we anticipate hosting a similar event that will also carry a significant financial incentive package. Media rights production and content revenue increased 23% to $275 million. The increase was driven by a step-up in media rights fees related to the Paramount deal that began in January, partially offset by lower media rights revenue recognition as there were two fewer Fight Nights in the quarter. Partnerships and marketing revenue increased 4% to $67 million. Despite two fewer events, we still managed to deliver an increase driven by the addition of new partners and renewals of existing partners at higher rates. We continue to make significant progress, adding new categories and growing existing ones, including the recently announced deals with bet365 as well as FRE Nicotine and Supersure, which span multiple TKO properties. As expected, live events and hospitality revenue decreased 17% to $49 million. The decrease was due to lower revenue from financial incentive packages, driven by the aforementioned Saudi Arabia event, partially offset by an increase in ticket sales. As Mark highlighted, in Q1, we continue to see strong demand for our events, including sellouts for all three numbered events and several arena records. Adjusted EBITDA reflected the increase in revenue, partially offset by an increase in expenses. Direct operating expenses primarily reflected an increase in athlete production and other event-related costs driven by UFC 324, our first event under the Paramount rights deal. SG&A increased primarily due to higher personnel and travel costs compared to the prior period. While normally, we don't focus on the timing of revenue and expense recognition, both were important to note this quarter because adjusted EBITDA margins were on par with the prior year despite the step-up from the Paramount rights deal. There are three items worth mentioning. First, we held two fewer Fight Nights, which carry sizable revenue allocations from our various media rights and partnership agreements. These are high flow-through revenue streams that will lead to incremental margin when those events occur in future quarters. Second, prior year margins benefited from the financial incentive package related to the Fight Night in Riyadh, which we anticipate to be held later this year. And finally, we incurred higher-than-normal costs related to UFC 324 to ensure a strong start to our Paramount relationship. For the full year, we expect UFC margins will meaningfully outpace 2025, exactly as our guidance suggests. Our WWE segment generated revenue of $476 million in the quarter, an increase of 22% or $84 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $256 million, an increase of 32% or $62 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 54%, up from 50% in the prior year period. Live events and hospitality revenue increased 62% to $123 million. Results reflected an increase in revenue from financial incentive packages related to the favorable impact of Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia in Q1. Media rights production and content revenue increased 12% to $282 million, primarily reflecting higher media rights fees related to the agreements with ESPN and Netflix. Partnerships and marketing revenue increased 2% to $26 million, driven by new partnerships and renewals across multiple categories. This growth came even with additional international events, including a 12-day European tour in January as well as Royal Rumble, which catered to and served to grow our global fan base. Though it occurred in April, WrestleMania 42 was emblematic of the momentum we're seeing in this area. The event featured a record 32 total partners, including Snickers, 2K, Riyadh Season, Ram Trucks, DoorDash and Minute Maid, among many others. Adjusted EBITDA reflected the increase in revenue, partially offset by an increase in expenses. Direct operating expenses increased primarily due to higher talent and production costs, most notably related to holding Royal Rumble in Saudi, which, of course, carries a higher cost structure versus other PLEs. SG&A increased primarily due to higher travel costs, driven by an increase in the number of international events in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 4 percentage points. The increase would have been even higher except for several timing-related items. We made a strategic decision to increase the number of NXT nontelevised events. The goal of this strategy is based on a desire to get younger talent more experienced in front of live audiences. We believe this will accelerate their development and readiness to join our main roster. The aforementioned European tour also resulted in an increase in international events compared to the prior year. While our international shows tend to have lower margin profiles due to increased travel and logistical costs, we believe they serve to increase fan engagement and overall monetization. As with UFC, for the full year, we expect WWE margins will meaningfully increase compared to 2025. Shifting now to our IMG segment. We generated revenue of $655 million, an increase of 38% or $179 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $97 million, an increase of 32% or $24 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 15%, on par with the prior year period. As we previewed on our last call, the increase in revenue primarily related to the favorable impact of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics at On Location, which was on plan and in line with our guidance. Revenue at the IMG business increased slightly over the prior year period as new production agreements and boxing commissions were offset by the absence of the Arabian Gulf Cup, which is a biannual event. Adjusted EBITDA primarily reflected the increase in revenue, partially offset by an increase in expenses. Expenses reflected costs related to the Milano Cortina Olympics as well as continued meaningful planned pre-spend for LA28, namely to support increased sales efforts, which Mark highlighted are off to a strong start. Corporate and other generated revenue of $74 million, an increase of 36%. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $58 million, an improvement of $19 million compared to the prior year period. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by higher media rights and partnerships revenue at PBR as well as higher management fees for services related to our boxing initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA primarily reflected the increase in revenue and a $22 million decrease in costs related to the absence of allocations of Endeavor corporate expenses under its ownership of IMG, On Location and PBR. As we discussed on prior calls, from the close of the acquisition on February 28, 2025 forward, there are no Endeavor corporate expense allocations included in our financial results. These improvements were offset by costs incurred to replicate the services previously provided by Endeavor as well as an increase in personnel and other operational expenses. Now moving on to our capital structure. In the first three months of the year, we generated $675 million of free cash flow. Our free cash flow conversion of adjusted EBITDA was 123%. Free cash flow included the favorable impact of $582 million of net collections related to On Location for the FIFA World Cup. Free cash flow also included the unfavorable working capital impact of UFC's new media rights deal with Paramount. As with prior years, first quarter cash flow was also impacted by annual bonus payments as well as negative working capital related to the seasonality of our businesses. As Ari conveyed, maintaining a robust and sustained capital return program remains a top priority for us. In the first quarter alone, we returned approximately $1 billion of capital to equity holders through our dividend and share repurchases. On March 31, we made our quarterly cash dividend payment from TKO OpCo of approximately $150 million or $0.78 per share. We intend to continue to fund quarterly cash dividends with cash flow from operations or cash on hand. Regarding share repurchases, as we disclosed in our earnings release, our Board of Directors has approved up to an additional $1 billion of share repurchases in addition to our previous authorization of $2 billion. Given the strength of our balance sheet and what we believe to be a dislocation in our stock price relative to its intrinsic value, we are positioned to continue deploying capital toward what we view as a highly value-accretive opportunity. In the quarter, we repurchased $38 million of shares under a 10b5-1 trading plan that we entered into in September 2025, which expired on February 26. In March, we entered into an ASR agreement to repurchase $800 million of our Class A common stock. We received an initial delivery of approximately 3.1 million shares and expect to complete the ASR in short order. We also entered into a 10b5-1 trading plan for the repurchase of up to $200 million of Class A common stock. Repurchases contemplated under this 10b5-1 plan are to commence immediately once the ASR agreement is completed. Share repurchases under the ASR and 10b5-1 plan are being funded with proceeds from the $900 million term loan add-on that we closed on March 10 as well as from cash on hand. We ended the quarter with $4.671 billion in debt and $789 million in cash and cash equivalents in addition to $937 million of restricted cash. As of Q1 2026, net leverage was 2.3x based on net debt of $3.882 billion and LTM adjusted EBITDA of $1.718 billion. Now turning to our outlook. As we say consistently, we manage the business with a focus on full year performance. Therefore, we believe results are best evaluated on a full year basis, given the quarterly fluctuations that are inherent in our operations, most notably related to the timing of our live events and the mix of locations, venues and cards. As noted in our press release, based on our performance through the first three months of the year and our anticipated performance for the remainder of the year, we are reaffirming our expectations. For full year 2026, we continue to target revenue of $5.675 billion to $5.775 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $2.24 billion to $2.29 billion. As articulated on our Q4 earnings call, this outlook reflects anticipated revenue growth of 21%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 43% and margin expansion of approximately 600 basis points to 39.6% at the midpoint of our guidance. This performance is expected to be driven by robust growth across media rights, live events, including financial incentive packages and partnership revenue. Consistent with our prior calls, while we're not providing quarterly guidance, we want to highlight a few notable items as we look to the second quarter. At UFC, media rights revenue will continue to reflect the step-up from the Paramount rights deal. The mix of live events in the quarter will also impact results. We expect to stage 11 events in Q2, UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June as well as two numbered events and eight Fight Nights. This compares to 11 events in Q2 '25, which included four numbered events and seven Fight Nights. As Mark discussed, UFC Freedom 250 is a once-in-a-lifetime event that will highlight the brand on the biggest stage possible. That comes with a unique financial profile, where our expenses will meaningfully exceed the limited partnership inventory we have sold, and we expect to lose approximately $30 million on this event. With respect to live events revenue, the Fight Night scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan carries a meaningful financial incentive package, part of a multiyear renewal at a higher per event fee than we realized in the same market in Q2 of last year. At WWE, given the timing and mix of our event calendar, including WrestleMania as well as a premium live event in Saudi Arabia, we expect the second quarter to be by far the highest revenue and adjusted EBITDA quarter of the year in terms of absolute dollars. Media rights will continue to benefit from the step-up of our agreement with ESPN. With respect to live events revenue, the Saudi PLE carries a meaningful financial incentive package. But as a reminder, we held a similar event in the second quarter of 2025. At the IMG segment, we expect results will be driven by On Location with the World Cup starting on June 11 as well as notable events in the quarter like the Final Four and NFL Draft. It's also a big quarter for our IMG business with many of the largest soccer leagues in the final months of their season, the start of Wimbledon and the first full quarter of the MLS season. While the World Cup is anticipated to have a positive impact on adjusted EBITDA, our sales efforts for LA28 will have ongoing costs that are expected to partially offset such impact. In terms of free cash flow, while we have not given formal guidance, we continue to target a free cash flow conversion rate in excess of 60%, normalizing for two notable items, the impact of net payments related to the World Cup and UFC's rights deal with Paramount. We generated strong first quarter results that reflect continued momentum across our businesses. As we look ahead, we remain focused on operational execution as well as maintaining our robust capital return program. Anchored by our premium content, live, experiential and insulated from AI disruption, we remain extremely well positioned within the sports and entertainment ecosystem to deliver incremental value for shareholders. With that, I'll turn it back to Seth.

Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations

Thanks, Andrew. Operator, we're ready to open the call for questions.

Operator, Operator

Your first question comes from the line of Brandon Ross with LightShed Partners.

Brandon Ross, Analyst, LightShed Partners

You guys have unlocked a ton of monetization at both UFC and WWE over the last several years. But as you noted in your prepared remarks, there's been some vocal fan criticism, calling out things like sponsorship and ticket pricing as being excessive. How do you think about balancing fan-facing monetization and the fan experience going forward? And do you think those vocal critics are reflective of the larger overall fan base?

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

Thanks, Brandon. The second part, I can't speculate on what percentage of that social chatter reflects our entire global fan base. But I'll take the first part of it because it is a priority topic for us, and that's why we covered it in the prepared remarks. We take any and all feedback, especially from our core fan base, extremely seriously and with high priority. We listen, we learn. At the same time, balancing the fan experience with the business of sports is never easy, whether you're talking ticket prices or commercial integration. It's as old as time. And frankly, it crosses genres. It's no different than Hollywood when you go to the movie theater and you see the prices rising for admission and concession items, not to mention the trailers and commercials prior to the film. Change takes getting used to. I recall when we increased national ad windows at SportsCenter from one minute to two minutes, there was significant backlash that went on for months. When the NBA even considered putting a sponsorship patch on jerseys, fans criticized it. Now there are digital boards and sponsors on courts and fields across sports. The WWE, in particular, is undergoing more commercial integration and change will be more noticeable for some as we implement these integrations. That said, there's no magic formula. There's going to be some trial and error over time. We have experimented. We've pushed some boundaries with various events, we've leaned in with others, and we've pulled back where appropriate. What I can tell you unequivocally—and this is what's most important as it relates to what Lawrence and Dana do at the UFC and what Nick and Paul do at WWE and what Sean Gleason does at PBR—our product comes first. Marketers around the world recognize that our product is strong. Our audience, especially at WWE, is young, diverse, hard to reach and super passionate. They want access to our IP, and marketers want access as well. We're working to give them that access while maintaining the balance. By the way, as we commercially integrate, that revenue allows us to be more creative with our product and with our superstars. Finally, remember that our audience is resilient. We don't take it for granted. Does it mean we can do whatever we want? Absolutely not. Quite the contrary. But currently, we are experiencing record attendance, record viewership and record engagement.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Sean Diffley with Morgan Stanley.

Sean Diffley, Analyst, Morgan Stanley

Mark, I think you mentioned financial incentive packages pipeline growing, and you referenced Azerbaijan as a good example. I was curious if you could elaborate on some color on what new deals are looking like and conversations are looking like? And is there any impact from the Middle East there on a go-forward basis? And then curious as PSKY and WBD potentially combined, what that could mean for UFC and Zuffa in terms of HBO+, Paramount+ and a combat sports super app?

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

Yes. First off, Sean, let me just say it sounded like we cut off Brandon. So Brandon, if you're listening or still on or maybe you got disconnected, just hit back and we'll come back around to you. Sean, you had a bunch of questions, and we'll, of course, cover the board. We're excited about the potential combinations in the media landscape. I can't comment on the specific terms of any pending transactions, who's going to carry us, who's not, who's going to promote us, who's not, how much, when and where. But the idea of all of these assets and platforms being in the hands of teams that can provide broader distribution, given what we've seen already from the Paramount relationship, is encouraging. The idea of more eyeballs, bigger audiences and higher engagement is something this team is excited about. That's not just for the UFC, that's also for Zuffa Boxing because there's real growth potential there. In terms of the Middle East and demand, similar to what you've heard from Live Nation and other major entertainment companies, we have seen no consumer pullback whatsoever globally. We're taking nothing for granted and monitoring developments closely, but our partners have been clear: they want events and they want them now. Royal Rumble was a huge hit for us earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, the highest grossing gate for Royal Rumble in that market. We don't take in that gate revenue directly, as we receive a financial incentive package, but the turnout and enthusiasm were massive. We have six more events through the year between Zuffa Boxing, WWE and UFC in the region, most of which are in the fourth quarter, and we are confident those will go off as planned. The demand for financial incentive packages remains strong. Our guidance is where it is, we've communicated that in the past, and we stand by it. Andrew, on the guidance?

Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer

Yes. Look, financial incentive packages are a major growth strategy for us and momentum continues. We have not seen a slowdown. We've recently announced a couple of deals most notably in Philadelphia, where we announced UFC 330 will be at Xfinity Mobile Arena in August. That's within a financial incentive package. So domestic demand for high premium intellectual property remains strong. We talked about Baku, and Baku is unique because we're going back there after the test deal in that market last year with a multiyear deal at a higher rate than we received in 2025. We've announced our debut event in Belgrade, Serbia, which will be a Fight Night in early August as well. So really no corner of the globe is untouched, and we're fairly bullish that this strategy continues to take hold.

Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations

Operator, if you can, let's go back to Brandon Ross. I think he got cut off.

Operator, Operator

Yes, Brandon Ross from LightShed Partners.

Brandon Ross, Analyst, LightShed Partners

Not sure what happened there. The question I was going to ask is there's also been a lot of noise about weaker UFC cards lately. In your view, what's going on? And what are you guys doing to improve?

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

Well, that's the journalist in you there. I get it. Let me leave no stone unturned with the direct questions. Bottom line is we don't buy the thesis that UFC cards are weakening. The product is great at the UFC. The brand has never been stronger. Our reach has never been greater. Anyone that came to our last numbered fight in Miami, UFC 327, was blown away. Anyone that went to our recent Fight Night in Perth, Australia, saw an extraordinary sport. We are always building at the UFC. We're in the building phase at all times. We find the best up-and-coming talent around the world and match them continually in compelling fights. There's a huge movement right now with young fighters coming up in the ranks taking over top spots from longer-tenured names—strong personalities and dynamic styles. The White House card we've put together is strong. We've added talent to it, and UFC Freedom 250 is stacked top to bottom; it's an opportunity to feature one of our most promising stars, Ilia Topuria. Dana White and his team have been doing this for 25 years. The real truth is we don't control who wins. You take great personalities from around the world with exciting styles; when they win, you catch lightning in a bottle. That's what we do. There will always be natural ebbs and flows in any sport; it's cyclical. The foundational elements of UFC are solid and we remain focused on building the roster and delivering compelling matchups.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Stephen Laszczyk with Goldman Sachs.

Stephen Laszczyk, Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Mark, you called out the strong engagement momentum you're seeing with your new distribution deals at ESPN and Paramount. I was curious if you could expand on that a little bit and maybe update us on perhaps to what extent you're seeing increases in engagement translate to other parts of the business like live events or sponsorship revenue, how some of those conversations progress? And to what extent the benefits you think could flow through the P&L this year and what we've seen so far play out and what's still to come?

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

Stephen, across the board, we're hitting on all cylinders. We have demand and fans, and they have a strong thirst for live experiences. If they can't be at an event, watching live is the next best thing, and our content fits that need perfectly. WrestleMania hit the top 10 in 33 countries on Saturday versus 28 last year, and the Sunday event hit the top 10 in 24 countries. Wider distribution creates more sampling and awareness, and as audiences convert, that translates into global partnerships upside, financial incentive package upside, and increased merchandise sales because fans want closer proximity to the brand. The traction is evident and should flow to the P&L over time. We're focused on execution and on converting that engagement into monetization.

Stephen Laszczyk, Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Great. And then maybe just on the partnership and marketing front, maybe for Andrew. I think growth decelerated in the first quarter quite a bit. I was just curious if you could talk a little bit more about the puts and takes of the first quarter revenue growth dynamic and then how we should expect growth in this line item to progress as we look into the balance of the year across both the UFC and WWE?

Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer

On UFC, partnership and marketing revenue for the quarter increased 4%, and that's largely attributable to timing. We're bullish on partnerships and marketing; it's core to our thesis, and we really see no slowdown at UFC or WWE. We had two fewer events in the quarter, and we allocate and recognize revenue on a per-event basis, so timing explains much of the quarter-over-quarter dynamic. At WWE, partnerships and marketing revenue was impacted by geography; we had 12 international events, which historically are a bit harder to monetize than our domestic events. We also had an event in Riyadh that had some restrictions reducing sponsorship activation compared to the prior year quarter. There's nothing here that changes our long-term view; our pipeline is robust and we expect significant year-over-year growth in partnerships.

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

To underscore Andrew's point, when we don't monetize to the fullest on global partnerships for international events as we do domestically, we still tend to perform well but not at the same domestic levels. We make up and then some on financial incentive packages. This is a timing situation. Our pipeline is robust and we're closing new categories and deals consistently.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.

Peter Supino, Analyst, Wolfe Research

I wanted to ask about the segmentation of demand. If you guys could share any color on how you see consumers at various price points acting across WWE and UFC and how that informs your strategy going forward in terms of trying to maximize your revenue at a given night. And then if you also would talk about the success of UFC on Paramount+. Obviously, that bigger stage is great for the brand, and I wondered how you expect that to show up across the business over the next few years.

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

Peter, it's more of the same in terms of how wider distribution shows up across the business. Paramount+ and CBS provide powerful platforms to get our content to a larger audience. As the audience converts, it fuels all of our revenue-generating opportunities—global partnerships, financial incentive packages, merchandise and live attendance. The engagement on CBS has been strong and younger viewers are sampling the UFC there, which helps Paramount+. Viewers are watching ancillary programming as well, which increases engagement and monetization opportunities. On the ticket front, we won't get into specific yield or pricing algorithms, but our gates are strong and we're focused on delivering the experience that drives repeat attendance. Broader distribution and a growing fan base ultimately support our strategy to maximize revenue per event while protecting the live experience.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Ryan Gravett with UBS.

Ryan Gravett, Analyst, UBS

Two questions for me. First on PBR. Coming off the new rights deals you signed last year and the expansion of the Team Series planned for next year, how should we think about the opportunity for growth at that property and the level of EBITDA contribution that it could drive for the company? And then, Andrew, I think it was about a year or two ago when you first talked about your comfort in operating the business at up to 3x leverage. I'm just wondering if your thoughts around leverage have changed at all now that you have all the media rights deals locked in to the end of the decade.

Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer

I'll hit the PBR question and the leverage question. Our corporate and other segment, where PBR sits, generated revenue of $74 million in the quarter, which is up 36% over the prior year period. A couple of factors drove that growth: PBR traction and media rights activity as well as boxing. We anticipate continued growth at PBR, which will be reflected in that segment, and it is high-margin growth, analogous to what we see in WWE and UFC. On leverage, we have an extraordinary financial position. Our balance sheet is strong and highly free cash flow generative. We continue to commit to deploying and returning capital to shareholders. As you saw today, our Board authorized another $1 billion of share repurchase. We're nearly complete with our ASR, which will then shift to a $200 million 10b5-1 plan. When that's all said and done, we now have $1 billion in our toolkit to put to work. How we finance future actions is to be determined, but I'm comfortable with our current leverage level. We expect natural deleveraging over time due to robust growth characteristics. At 2.3x net leverage today, assuming no incremental debt, we would be well below 2x at the midpoint of guidance as we deleverage organically.

Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations

Operator, why don't we take one last question please?

Operator, Operator

Your last question will be from Brent Navon from Bank of America.

Brent Navon, Analyst, Bank of America

So just one for me on—there have been several instances of high-profile one-off fighting events that are really validating the fan interest in combat sports. But I guess the flip side is this demand could also make the demand for some of your fighters even stronger. So are you finding that it's becoming more competitive to retain top fighters? And anything you could share on how fighter compensation is tracking this year relative to prior years?

Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer

Data point I can share, Brent, is what we've said previously: when we did the Paramount deal, we doubled fighter bonuses at UFC, which was an eight-figure investment and was included in our full year guidance. Fighter compensation continues to grow at a meaningful clip. We know what our core assets are, and we would never turn a blind eye to our most meaningful investments. We make strategic and targeted investments in our athletes and our talent at WWE and UFC; it's not something that's keeping us up at night.

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer

It's baked into our strategy. In terms of competition, absolutely we have competition everywhere and always have. MMA, combat sports and boxing have new entrants and current players competing for talent. This is a highly competitive space, and we have to be at our best every day with storylines, matchups and roster management. From Dana to Triple H, it's something they think about constantly for both UFC and WWE. As long as we're doing our job—putting the product first, listening to fans, serving up great experiences and driving viewership with solid marketing and partnerships—we should stay out in front. But we do not take it for granted.

Operator, Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending, and you may now disconnect.