The Biz: WME Drives Endeavor Revenues; The Street Gets Bullish On Live Nation; ASCAP’s Big Year & More

WME’s Revenues Climb In Q4

Endeavor, the parent company of WME (and a lot more), reported fourth quarter and full year revenues after market close Feb. 26 as the company prepares to go private. Endeavor as a whole reported Q4 revenues of $1.6 billion with its representation sector — that’s WME — accounting for $501.6 million of that, a 17% increase over the same quarter in 2023, when its film and television departments were slowed by the writers’ strike that largely iced Hollywood.

Representation was up in all sectors for WME, which had $1.7 billion in revenues for the year.

Endeavor is in the process of off-loading assets as Silver Lake Partners moves it private. Sports-related assets PBR, IMG and On Location are being sold to TKO, the company that owns wrestling promotion WWE and MMA powerhouse UFC and that is majority-owned by Endeavor itself. TKO will remain public. TKO — which has had a banner year of its own — announced its first-ever “Takeover” event for April 24-26 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. PBR will run an event Thursday, followed by UFC Saturday with WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” closing it out Monday. It’s the first triple-synergy event for the flagship TKO properties, though UFC and WWE did run a weekend together in Louisville in 2024.

After Boffo Earnings, Live Nation Gets Street Cred

With its strong Q4 and year-end earnings report last week, Live Nation Entertainment earned some serious endorsements from major Wall Street investment houses this week.

TD Cowen raised its price target for LYV to $166 from $145. Bank of America went even farther, setting a $175 target up from $149. LYV shares are a near-unanimous buy across major houses.

Cowen cited robust growth in both the supply and demand side of Live Nation’s business, plus speculated about a “favorable regulatory outcome” under the Trump Administration; the government’s antitrust suit against the company is still active in the Southern District of New York, however, with little to indicate it’ll be dropped. BOA also noted a rosy business forecast in its revision.

Shares of LYV have hit all-time anytime ($157.75) and closing-bell ($154.62) highs in the last two weeks.

ASCAP Sets A Record

ASCAP delivered $1.835 billion in revenue with $1.696 billion available as royalty distribution in 2024, both records for the performance rights organization.

U.S.-licensed performances totaled $1.397 billion, an increase of 5.3%, or $71 million, year over year with domestic royalty distributions totaling $1.284 billion.

Collections for foreign revenue also increased to a total of $438 million, up by $28 million, or 6.8% with $411 million available for royalty distribution, a 9.8% increase of $37 million.

ASCAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, unique among PROs, distributing 90 cents on the dollar back to rights holders,