On Wednesday, the WWE officially announced the release of the following wrestlers: Kurt Angle, Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz), Aiden English (Matthew Rehwoldt), Drake Maverick (James Curtin), Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers), Sarah Logan (Sarah Rowe), Deonna Purrazzo, No Way Jose (Levis Valenzuela), Mike Chioda, Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra), Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson), Mike Kanellis (Mike Bennett), Rowan (Joseph Ruud), Rusev (Miroslav Barnyashev), Heath Slater (Heath Miller), Maria Kanellis, Zack Ryder (Matthew Cardona), Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz), EC3 (Michael Hutter), Primo (Edwin Colon), Epico (Orlando Colon Nieves), and Lio Rush (Lionel Green).
It wasn’t just the on-air talent that was released but also backstage producers that included Dave Finley, Mike Rotunda, Shane Helms, Lance Storm, Billy Kidman, Pat Buck, Shawn Daivari, Scott Armstrong, and Sarah Stock.
Vince McMahan earlier today held a conference call with all WWE staff informing them of upcoming measures the company would be taking under the current circumstances, one of which was releasing talent and staff from all different roles in the company. WWE later released a statement on its website with details.
STAMFORD, Conn., April 15, 2020 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) today provided an update on measures taken by the Company in response to the current impact of COVID-19 on the organization.
Due to COVID-19 and current government mandated impacts on WWE and the media business generally, the Company went through an extensive evaluation of its operations over the past several weeks. This analysis resulted in the implementation of various short-term cost reductions and cash flow improvement actions including:
Reducing executive and board member compensation;
Decreasing operating expenses;
Cutting talent expenses, third party staffing and consulting;
Deferring spend on the build out of the Company’s new headquarters for at least six months.
Given the uncertainty of the situation, the Company also identified headcount reductions and made the decision to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately. The decision to furlough versus permanently reduce headcount reflects the fact that the Company currently believes the furlough will be temporary in nature.
The Company’s reductions of employee compensation and headcount results in an estimated monthly savings of $4 million, along with cash flow improvement of $140 million primarily from the deferral in spending on the Company’s new headquarters. Additionally, the Company has substantial financial resources, both available cash and debt capacity, which currently total approximately $0.5 billion, to manage the challenges ahead. Management continues to believe the fundamentals of the Company’s business remain strong and that WWE is well positioned to take full advantage of the changing media landscape and increasing value of live sports rights over the longer term.
The Company will provide further details when it reports its first quarter 2020 results next Thursday, April 23 after the close of the market.
It’s a shame that people are losing their jobs from all industries due to COVID-19. All of these wrestlers who are being released today will either be back or have new homes and wrestle again once everything resumes. Times may seem dark right now, but it won’t be dark for long as the sun will rise again, and we will hear the rumble of the ring soon.
Comments