WWE recently released more than a dozen superstars and it’s believed that the move was part of budget cuts made necessary because of the reduced operations due to coronavirus pandemic.
However, the company then paid a $.12 per share dividend to all shareholders of both Class A and Class B stocks. It’s estimated that they paid around $9.4 million dollars to shareholders in total with $3.5 million of it going to Vince McMahon alone.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer talked about the move recently and the wrestling journalist revealed that cutting these dividends in half would have paid for the released star’s salaries for more than two years:
“Interesting stat: If WWE cut its dividend to owners, going largely to the chairman, in half, the savings would pay every single cut wrestler & agents money for 2 years and 2 months. If they cut dividend completely, 4 years and 4 months.”
Meltzer then revealed another interesting status and mentioned that the company is estimated to make $127 million in profits this year even if they don’t make any money from house shows in 2020:
“They’ve got plenty of money to cover them during the crisis, $500 million to be exact from their own mouths, and they don’t need to dip into that. Brandon Thurston [financial analyst for wrestlenomics.com] estimated $127 million in profits this year based on not seeing another penny from house shows in 2020.”
