News / Published 2026-11-05

TKO Raises Guidance Again as UFC Revenue Jumps 60%

UFC drove the quarter with revenue up 60% to $519.2 million on a string of sellouts, WWE revenue fell 1% to $399.3 million, and IMG rose 16% to $391.3 million on World Cup hospitality. Both outlets print the same guidance ranges, while The Hollywood Reporter adds net income and an earnings-call passage about Skydance that Variety does not carry.

(See the reader poll and source context below).

TKO raised full-year guidance for the second time this year after third-quarter revenue rose 21% to $1.36 billion, with UFC up 60% on a string of sellouts and the World Cup lifting IMG.

A flat vector illustration of a long dim meeting table with a single warm desk lamp at its right end, a row of small teal bars along the near edge and a pool of light on the floor, with the words "Sellouts lift the quarter" in the lower-left corner.
Conceptual editorial illustration; not a photograph of the people or event described.

What do the sources establish?

Recorded source context. No verified social reaction quotes or aggregate vote results are supplied.
Platform / SourceCore Stance / QuoteEngagement MetricTimestamp
UFC Powers TKO to Record Quarter as Sellouts Lift Revenue 60% — VarietyReported context: [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object]Not recordedNot recorded
TKO Raises Guidance as UFC Powers Q3 Earnings — The Hollywood ReporterReported context: [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object]Not recordedNot recorded

THE SHORT VERSION

  • TKO Group Holdings reported third-quarter revenue of $1.36 billion, up 21%, and adjusted EBITDA of $555.7 million, up 54%, and raised its full-year guidance for the second time this year.
  • UFC drove the quarter with revenue up 60% to $519.2 million on a string of sellouts, WWE revenue fell 1% to $399.3 million, and IMG rose 16% to $391.3 million on World Cup hospitality.
  • Both outlets print the same guidance ranges, while The Hollywood Reporter adds net income and an earnings-call passage about Skydance that Variety does not carry.

Revenue Up 21%, EBITDA Up 54%

TKO Group Holdings reported third-quarter revenue of $1.36 billion, up 21% from a year earlier, and adjusted EBITDA of $555.7 million, up 54%, Variety reports. Variety puts the adjusted EBITDA margin at 41%, against 32% a year ago, and traces $119.7 million of the earnings increase to UFC and $9.4 million to WWE. Both outlets print the same revenue and the same EBITDA total.

The two accounts differ in where they start. The Hollywood Reporter adds the profit line Variety omits: net income of $277.9 million, up from $171.1 million. It frames the quarter as evidence that live sports is a growth engine for years to come, with the FIFA World Cup lifting the On Location hospitality business. Neither item reports earnings per share, and neither gives a complete set of segment margins.

UFC Up 60%, the Biggest Driver

UFC was the largest contributor. Revenue rose 60% to $519.2 million, and The Hollywood Reporter puts UFC's adjusted EBITDA at $285.3 million, up 72%. Variety breaks the increase into parts: $132.3 million more in media rights, production and content revenue, $36 million more in live events and hospitality, $20.5 million more in partnerships and marketing, and $5.2 million more in consumer products licensing and other revenue. Variety describes the segment as delivering double-digit gains across all key measures.

The two outlets name different causes for the same number. Variety's chain runs through attendance: a string of sellouts, then live events and hospitality, then the quarter. The Hollywood Reporter lists the lines that grew and credits media rights, sponsorships, live events and consumer products and licensing, leaving the gate out of the sentence. Live events and hospitality is the only line either outlet ties to attendance, and only Variety gives its dollar increase, which makes the sellout framing a Variety claim rather than a shared finding.

WWE Slips While IMG Jumps

WWE went the other way. The Hollywood Reporter puts total revenue down 1% to $399.3 million, with a decrease in live events and hospitality offset by increases in media rights and consumer products, and adjusted EBITDA up 5% to $217.2 million. Variety gives the comparison behind the decline: the year-ago quarter had three more events on the wrestling league's main roster. Neither outlet describes the quarter as a setback in earnings, because adjusted EBITDA at the segment still rose.

IMG is where the World Cup appears. The Hollywood Reporter reports revenue up 16% to $391.3 million on increases in partnerships and marketing revenue and in hospitality tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with adjusted EBITDA up 89% to $115.9 million. Variety folds IMG into a sentence about the full-year forecast and credits the On Location premium events business with a strong quarter on the influx of big-ticket events around the World Cup. Only The Hollywood Reporter gives IMG's revenue and its earnings.

Guidance Raised a Second Time

Both outlets report the raise, and both print the same ranges: revenue of $5.790 billion to $5.830 billion for the full year, and adjusted EBITDA of $2.295 billion to $2.315 billion. They count the raise differently. The Hollywood Reporter calls it guidance raised for the second straight quarter; Variety, quoting Shapiro, calls it the second time this year. The difference is small but not empty, because a second raise in a year is not the same statement as a second consecutive quarterly raise.

Neither outlet says what changed between the two raises, and neither compares the new range with the old one. Both print the range and Shapiro's description of the quarter as the close of what he calls a year of execution, with the vast majority of revenue already under contract for the next five to seven years. The two items also split the arithmetic: Variety gives dollar increases, The Hollywood Reporter gives percentage moves, and neither reconciles one set with the other.

A Quote, Two Spellings

Shapiro's statement is carried at length by both outlets, and the two versions differ in one word. Variety prints “the secular tail winds powering live events and experiences around the world”; The Hollywood Reporter prints the same phrase with tailwinds as a single word. Both attribute the line to TKO's president and COO. Neither outlet says whether the text came from the earnings call or from a written statement.

The rest of the passage is identical in substance. He calls the raise “the clearest expression of our conviction across the entire portfolio” and says the business is durable, with the vast majority of existing revenues locked in. He adds that macro trends are in the company's favor and that every facet of sports consumption is pointing up. Neither outlet tests the claim or asks what would break a five-to-seven-year lock, and neither carries a follow-up question from an analyst.

Skydance, and What Is Missing

The Hollywood Reporter carries one passage Variety does not: an answer from the earnings call about Skydance. It reports that Shapiro said that with Skydance now controlling Warner Bros. Discovery, UFC events will likely begin appearing in other places. In the quote he names HBO, TNT, Paramount+ and CBS as places to expand audience, and mentions working with David Berson, the head of Skydance Sports, during their time at ESPN. He calls the two companies strategically aligned.

No number is attached to any of it. Neither outlet reports a signed agreement, a term sheet or a date, and neither says which UFC events would move. What the quarter itself establishes is narrower: revenue up 21%, adjusted EBITDA up 54%, UFC up 60% on a sellout run, WWE down 1%, IMG up 16%, and a full-year range raised for the second time this year. Related coverage on this site includes RedBird and Sound Ventures' $1 billion media fund, ESPN's Star Wars alternate cast for Super Bowl LXI and Hello Sunshine's cuts after the Mediawan deal.

Sources & reporting limits

  1. UFC Powers TKO to Record Quarter as Sellouts Lift Revenue 60% — Variety
  2. TKO Raises Guidance as UFC Powers Q3 Earnings — The Hollywood Reporter
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