TKO Raises 2026 Guidance After Second-Quarter Revenue Rises 18%

TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO ) reported second-quarter financial results on Monday. The transcript from the company's second-quarter earnings call has been provided below. APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit to learn more.

547 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $650 million, representing an 18% increase in revenue and a 23% increase in adjusted EBITDA year-over-year. The company highlighted the strategic success of major events, including UFC Freedom 250 and the FIFA World Cup, noting significant audience engagement and the addition of 25 new marketing partners. 305 billion, driven by strong performance across its businesses. Operational highlights included record-breaking events such as UFC 329 in Las Vegas and WWE's Clash in Italy, as well as significant progress in international markets with WWE's expansion on Netflix.

Management emphasized their focus on execution, stating there are no current plans for major M&A activities and highlighting the company's strong position in the live events market amidst growing demand for in-person experiences. Full Transcript OPERATOR Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to TKO Group Holdings' second quarter 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session.

If you would like to ask a question, please press star-one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star-one again. I will now hand the conference over to Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Seth Zaslow, Head of Investor Relations Good afternoon and welcome to TKO Group Holdings' second 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 Group Holdings' executive chair and chief executive officer, Mark Shapiro, TKO Group Holdings' president and chief operating officer, and Andrew Schweimer, TKO Group Holdings' 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 second 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 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Seth. TKO Group Holdings' unique ability to deliver one-of-one live events and experiences was front and center in the second quarter.

Nothing illustrates this better than UFC Freedom 250, held in June. This event was a roaring success for our company, the UFC brand, and the sport of mixed martial arts—exposure, earned media, audience expansion, and a weekend-long fan experience. TKO Group Holdings also played an integral role in the success of this year's record-breaking FIFA World Cup, where On Location staged the largest hospitality program in the tournament's history. Fans from 154 countries purchased more than 600,000 hospitality packages across 104 matches in 16 host cities.

The qualitative feedback on our delivery bodes well for the continued growth of On Location and affirmatively sets the table for what will be a historic LA28 Olympic Games. TKO Group Holdings is poised for monumental growth at a time when consumers are deliberately choosing in-person experiences. Our content can't be manufactured or automated, and as the rise of AI inevitably changes how we spend our time, live events built on scarcity, marketable IP, and durable repricing power win out.

Physical experiences still command the biggest share of the wallet, and we're one of the very few companies that actually lead in this space across multiple properties, at scale and globally. As we look to the back half of 2026, we're raising our full-year guidance with conviction in our businesses. Stronger than ever. And with that, Mark will take you through the quarter.

Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer Thanks, Ari. We've consistently stated that 2026 is a year of execution for TKO Group Holdings. The second quarter confirmed that from WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas in April, to WWE's Clash in Italy in May, to UFC Freedom 250 in our nation's capital in June, to crowded stadiums around North America for the FIFA World Cup, to IMG's partnership with the EuroLeague Final Four in Athens, TKO Group Holdings has served and captured fans while demonstrating excellence from every corner of the business. There was no bigger headline or spotlight this quarter than UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.

The card, the production, the storytelling was a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle on the biggest stage possible, and fans turned out and tuned in. The Ellipse FanFest was attended by more than 130,000 fans over two days. S. and Latin America on Paramount+.

And this goes well beyond a single event. Since the start of the year, 20 million subscriber households have watched more than 200 million hours of UFC programming on Paramount+, delivering viewership more than 23 times the average UFC pay-per-view event over the past two years. That's the strength of the Paramount partnership at work in just six short months, and proof that removing the double paywall was indeed the right decision. TKO Group Holdings' properties' outsized impact on conversation, subscriber acquisition, and retention is undeniable.

Beyond the audience numbers, the event generated more than $1 billion in earned media value, the kind of exposure only a handful of events in the world can command. It also deepened our commercial relationships, adding 25 new marketing partners to our roster, many signing multi-year or multi-event deals. Andrew will cover the event's financials in more detail, but I can tell you unequivocally that our investment in this event—time, energy, focus—delivered results as designed.

While we won't hold another event in the backyard of the White House, we will continue to be bold and creative on the hunt for new audiences, new venues, and new experiences that make the UFC truly singular. Looking beyond our White House event, UFC sold-out arenas and secured financial incentive packages around the globe, including in Perth, Macau, and Newark, New Jersey, where our return to the Prudential Center became the highest-grossing event in arena history. Similarly, in Azerbaijan, our return to Baku drew more than 10,500 fans, with 40% of those fans traveling in from more than 70 countries.

UFC 329 in Las Vegas last month was also a standout, becoming the highest-grossing event in UFC history. The same June evening that UFC returned to Baku, WWE returned to Riyadh for a successful Night of Champions, drawing a sold-out crowd of more than 18,000 fans. Building on last month's successful return to Abu Dhabi, our remaining events in the Middle East are all systems go as planned for the remainder of 2026. WrestleMania 42 drew more than 106,000 fans and one of the highest all-time gates in WWE history.

WWE Backlash sold out in Tampa, Saturday Night's Main Event sold out in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and WWE staged a run of successful events across Europe spanning the UK, Spain, France, and Portugal, headlined by the aforementioned Clash in Italy, WWE's first-ever Premium Live Event in the country. Coinciding with our local launch on Netflix, Clash sold out Turin's Anolpi Arena and set the record for the highest-grossing entertainment event ever at that arena. This is a long way of saying that demand for WWE events is insatiable and we're in the position of being at the controls of creating this demand.

We have full autonomy over where we bring every event, and we can be surgical in our approach to growing our fan base. For the long term, our decision-making is deliberate. SummerSlam is a prime example. Following last year's record two-day event at MetLife Stadium, we decided to take this Premium Live Event to Minneapolis this summer for our first-ever stadium show in the city.

Backed by a meaningful financial incentive package, the two-day show was extraordinary. The sold-out corresponding WWE FanFest delivered strong engagement metrics across TKO Group Holdings. We prioritized both the fan experience and improving profitability. They are not mutually exclusive and they are not always in that order.

Which brings me to recent chatter around WWE viewership on Netflix. WWE Raw was a global top-10 title every single week of the second quarter, and beyond our expansion with Netflix into Italy, we recently launched Premium Live Events with the streamer in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland as markets continue to come online. With ESPN in the United States, WrestleMania Night 1 is the number one program on ESPN2 this year, while Backlash and Clash in Italy both had strong viewership. Meanwhile, SmackDown on USA Network was a top-three Friday cable show in the United States among adults 18 to 49 in nine of 13 weeks in the quarter, with three number one finishes.

These numbers tell the real story, and I would add that TKO Group Holdings properties like UFC, WWE, PBR, and increasingly Zuffa Boxing are purpose-built for our current social media environment. Social media amplifies our events. Shared highlights and content don't substitute for the event itself; they market the next one. Our financial incentive packages strategy is also gaining meaningful traction.

Our properties deliver real economic impact and cultural connection for cities, and that value increasingly shows up in the deals we strike with tourism boards, states and local municipalities, and private partners. We're still early, and the runway to scale this in more markets and cities across all our properties—and for bigger commitments—is significant. Our strategy is working, and our target of $380 to $420 million by the year 2030 is on plan.

To that point, in May we signed a landmark three-year, seven-event agreement with the Arizona Sports and Events Alliance spanning UFC, WWE, PBR, and Zuffa Boxing, one of the broadest multi-property financial incentive package deals we've put together to date. And next week, UFC 330 brings a championship bout back to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, for the first time in 15 years as part of the city's America 250th celebration—another market investing in TKO Group Holdings to drive economic impact. The value of our live events is undeniable, and it's only going to grow from here.

As Ari mentioned, while AI makes content cheaper and easier to produce, what can't be manufactured becomes scarcer and more valuable. That is, live communal events that people crave and organize their calendars to travel to and from. And there's no bigger example of that than the FIFA World Cup 2026. For On Location, the numbers speak for themselves.

World Cup hospitality sales surpassed $2 billion from more than 568,000 packages sold through the second quarter, and that's before counting the 25 matches in July. Demand remained exceptionally strong straight from the group stage through to the final, with significant last-minute purchasing activity across every sales channel. And this isn't only a World Cup story. On Location's portfolio of events is seeing similar anticipation and appetite, most notably the LA28 Olympics, which, while still two years away, has already generated orders for more than $280 million on over 20,000 bookings.

The success of our hospitality and experiential program doesn't merely speak to a trend, but instead what is quickly becoming the norm: front-of-the-line access and the consumer's increasing desire to pay more for a personalized, customized offering. Meanwhile, the IMG business continues to partner with some of the most iconic sporting events globally. Recently, we drove sponsorship and broadcast coverage for the most-watched Wimbledon since 2019 and for The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where IMG produced the live broadcast of every shot seen around the world across 217 territories.

The range of this business is a true differentiator, and these invaluable relationships deliver real commercial outcomes that compound over time across the entire TKO Group Holdings portfolio. At PBR, the business had an extraordinary quarter. S. Air Force Academy sold out and drew nearly 31,000 fans.

It also aired on Fox Nation and was supported by a significant financial incentive package. This was a strong cultural moment as part of America's 250th celebration. PBR Team Series is currently in full swing, and we are in active discussions with several potential investors for new franchises. Finally, turning to boxing, where we're building international scale and strengthening our roster.

Zuffa Boxing staged our first international event in Bournemouth, UK, activating our new Sky Sports media partnership. Zuffa Boxing also made its New York City debut last week at Madison Square Garden's Infosys Theater. We are signing world-class talent, most notably Shakur Stevenson, one of the biggest names in American boxing. And on September 12th, we will return with TKO Group Holdings' next super fight featuring Ryan Garcia versus Conor Benn at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, airing on Paramount+ globally and on DAZN in the UK and Ireland.

The growth of this asset is comfortably ahead of schedule. Altogether, the second quarter was another period of disciplined, high-quality execution. Sports has become the anchor of premium media, commanding unrivaled live audiences and cultural relevance. TKO Group Holdings offers leverage to secular growth in live sports and entertainment, and in many ways TKO Group Holdings has defensive business model characteristics to AI disruption risk.

Demand for live entertainment shows no signs of slowing, and owners of differentiated IP that offer differentiated live experiences, like TKO Group Holdings does, will be first in line to benefit.

Our strategy is tight and fit for the time: demand for live events and premium IP in the experience economy; growth in global partnerships; significant step-ups from our media deals delivering high-margin returns; momentum in financial incentive packages; over 70% of long-term contracted revenue at UFC and WWE providing visibility and predictability; the development of Zuffa Boxing as our next significant combat sports asset; and On Location's total beatdown victory lap with the World Cup hospitality program—not to mention the fact that the stage is well set for the LA Olympic Games. These are the catalysts for TKO Group Holdings.

As I turn it over to Andrew, who will review our second quarter financial results, I would be remiss not to reiterate our commitment of returning capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Given the recent volatility and trading levels of our stock, we intend to commence an additional buyback in the near term, as previously authorized by the Board. With that, Andrew, good afternoon. Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer We delivered strong operating and financial results across our businesses in Q2 and we continued to execute at the highest levels on the world's biggest stages.

Given our performance to date and our visibility into the remainder of the year, we have raised our full year outlook. Before getting into the numbers, I want to remind you of two items that had an impact on results this quarter, specifically UFC Freedom 250 and the FIFA World Cup. First, with regards to UFC Freedom 250, we incurred significantly higher than normal costs which we partially offset with sold out Global Partnerships inventory. As a reminder, we did not sell tickets and therefore did not record any live events revenue.

Given the event's financial profile, which as anticipated resulted in approximately $30 million loss, our margins at UFC as well as on a consolidated basis were meaningfully impacted. Second, revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the FIFA World Cup are recognized based on the volume of matches delivered and as such will benefit both Q2 and Q3. In the second quarter, we recorded approximately 45 million of adjusted EBITDA at the IMG segment.

Given the scale and complexity of this event, we're still in the process of closing out our books to determine the final financial results, but we now expect to exceed our estimate of approximately 75 million in adjusted EBITDA for the full year.