Following the release of WWE’s Fourth Quarter 2010 financial results on Thursday morning, the company also announced it’s full-year financial numbers for 2010. Here are some highlights from the WWE press release, which can be seen here in its entirety:

Total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2010 were $477.7 million as compared to $475.2 million in the prior year. Operating income was $82.3 million as compared to $77.1 million in the prior year. Net income was $53.5 million, or $0.71 per share, as compared to $50.3 million, or $0.68 per share, in the prior year. EBITDA was $94.0 million for the current year as compared to $91.6 million in the prior year. Excluding items that impact comparability (discussed above), Adjusted Operating income for the current year was $82.3 million as compared $86.7 million in the prior year. Adjusted Net income was $53.5 million, or $0.71 per share, as compared to $56.1 million, or $0.76 per share, in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was $94.0 million for the current year as compared to $101.2 million in the prior year.

Revenues increased 1% led by our WWE Studios segment reflecting the expansion of our release slate and a change in revenue recognition with our revised film distribution model. Growth in Television and Licensing was offset by declines across our other businesses.

Revenues from outside North America increased 6% led by an expansion of our Television and Licensing businesses in our Asia Pacific and Latin American markets, respectively, as well as an approximate $2.5 million favorable impact from changes in foreign exchange rates.

Revenues from our Live and Televised Entertainment businesses were $331.8 million for the current year as compared to $335.0 million in the prior year, a decrease of 1%.

Revenues from our Consumer Products businesses were $97.4 million as compared to $99.7 million in the prior year, a decrease of 2%.

Revenues from our Digital Media related businesses were $28.9 million as compared to $32.8 million in the prior year, a decrease of 12%.

WWE Studios

We recorded revenue from our Studios business of $19.6 million as compared to $7.7 million in the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by the release of our latest films, Legendary and Knucklehead, under our revised film distribution model. This new model entails self-distribution and marketing of our films. Under this new model, we reflect the entirety of a film’s gross receipts and its associated distribution and advertising costs in our results. In addition, this change in the distribution model results in the earlier recognition of revenue and expenses as compared to our previous model. The current year included $8.8 million in revenue and $11.5 million in expenses (including $6.2 million of distribution and advertising costs), resulting in a $2.7 million loss for the films released under the new distribution model.

Profit Contribution (Net revenues less cost of revenues)

Profit contribution decreased to $203.4 million in the current year as compared to $219.3 million in the prior year, reflecting lower revenue from Pay-Per-View, Home Video and Live Events and the recognition of film costs under our new self-distribution model. The resulting changes in business mix, including the increased share of film revenue, contributed to a reduction in gross profit contribution margin to approximately 43% as compared to 46% in the prior year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

SG&A expenses were $109.4 million for the current year as compared to $127.7 million in the prior year, led by decreases in staff-related expenses, including accrued management incentive compensation and bad debt, as well as lower legal and professional fees. Excluding items that impact comparability (discussed above), Adjusted SG&A expenses were $109.4 million for the current year as compared to $118.1 million in the prior year.

EBITDA

EBITDA for the current year increased to approximately $94.0 million as compared to $91.6 million in the prior year, reflecting SG&A cost savings as described above, partially offset by reduced profits from Pay-Per-View, Home Video, Live Events and WWE Studios. Excluding items that impact comparability (discussed above), Adjusted EBITDA was $94.0 million for the current year as compared to $101.2 million in the prior year.

Investment and Other Income (Expense)

Investment income, net was $2.0 million as compared to $3.1 million in the prior year. Prior year investment income included $1.0 million in realized investment gains as compared to $0.1 million in the current year. Additionally in the current year, increased investment yields offset lower average investment balances. Other expense of $2.1 million in the current year as compared to $0.4 million in the prior year primarily reflects the impact of realized foreign exchange gains and losses and the revaluation of warrants. In the current year, we recorded $1.3 million of foreign exchange losses as compared to gains of $1.5 million in the prior year. In the current year, we recorded a gain of $0.6 million as compared to a loss of $1.0 million in the prior year relating to the revaluation of warrants.

Effective tax rate

The effective tax rate was 35% in the current year as compared to 37% in the prior year. The decrease in tax rate in the current year was primarily driven by increased benefits related to qualified domestic production activities and the recognition of previously unrecognized tax benefits.

Cash Flows

Net cash provided by operating activities was $38.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2010 as compared to $116.4 million in the prior year. This $77.8 million decrease was driven primarily by an increase in feature film investments, changes in WWE’s tax position and working capital. Our cash investment in films increased by $33.5 million, driven by a $30.0 million increase in film production spending and a decrease of $3.5 million in film tax incentives received as compared to the prior year. Also driving a significant change in cash flow from operating activities was a $20.3 million increase in cash paid for taxes due to higher estimated taxable income and an $11.0 million refund received in the prior year. Moreover, the prior year reflected a one-time $13.2 million advance from a business partner. Capital expenditures increased to $11.0 million from $5.4 million in the prior year primarily due to increased investments in television production initiatives.

For more details on WWE’s fourth quarter and full-year earnings results for 2010, you can check out the company’s official press release at Yahoo! Finance.

Even more financial data is coming in from WWE’s Fourth Quarter 2010 financial results and the numbers for WWE’s pay-per-view buyrates are not pretty.

Pay-per-view buyrates for Q4 2010 were down a staggering 23% from the previous year.

Pay-per-view revenue was $13.8 million, down from $16.3 million in 2009.

Here is a breakdown of the buyrates by event:

• October’s Hell in a Cell did 210,000 buys, down from the 283,000 buys in 2009.
• October’s Bragging Rights did 137,000 buys, down from 181,000 buys in 2009.
• November’s Survivor Series did 244,000 buys, up from 235,000 buys in 2009.
• December’s TLC did 195,000 buys, down from 228,000 buys in 2009.

(Source: Corporate.WWE.com)

We’ve got some more financial results from WWE’s fourth quarter 2010 earnings report released on Thursday morning:

– WWE’s revenue from live events decreased by 9 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Live events took in $26.6 million, down form $29.2 million in Q4 2009.

– Average attendance of live events in North America decreased 15 percent to approximately 5,600 fans. The average ticket price was up nearly $4 per ticket, which helped offset the revenue impact from decreased attendance.

– While WWE has been relying on international tours to boost overall live event revenue in recent years, international live events revenue was down by 12 percent during fiscal 2010 compared to the previous year. Attendance dropped to 7,500 from 8,500 in 2009.

— Following the announcement of WWE’s Fourth Quarter 2010 financial results, the company’s stock did not take too bad of a hit. The stock price took a major dive on January 20th after it was announced that today’s results would not meet analysts expectations, but the stock is down less than 1% on Thursday morning now that the actual numbers have been made public.

(Source: Corporate.WWE.com)

World Wrestling Entertainment released is fourth quarter 2010 earnings report on Thursday morning. Here are some of the highlights:

– Revenues totaled $122.5 million compared to $117.3 million in the same quarter in 2009.

– Operating income was $14.4 million as compared to $17.8 million in the prior year quarter.

– Net income was $8.1 million, or $0.11 per share, as compared to $11.2 million, or $0.15 per share, in the prior year quarter.

WWE chairman Vince McMahon commented in the report. “In 2010, WWE achieved record operating performance, generating the highest level of reported EBITDA in the Company’s history despite a challenging environment, particularly over the latter part of the year,” McMahon said. “Difficult trends continued in the fourth quarter and were exacerbated by the performance of Home Video.

“For the quarter and the full year, our businesses exhibited three major areas of strength: increased value from our television content, significant growth from our new toy licensing partnership with Mattel, and continued financial discipline. These strengths served to mitigate the impact of a weak economy, changes in our talent base, and unfavorable industry trends in home video.

“We remain confident that we can address our talent related challenges, expand both our content and distribution and, leveraging our strengths, drive meaningful growth.”

We’ll have lots more details throughout the day on WWE’s fourth quarter earnings, which came in significantly lower than what was initially projected.

(Source: Corporate.WWE.com)

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JrsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR said about:

WrestleMania Guest Host: “We’ve gotten a wide array of suggestions as to who folks think will be the Guest Host of Wrestlemania 27 that emanates from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Bob Barker, Justin Beiber, ‘Arnold the Governor,’ The Rock, Stone Cold, Aaron Rodgers, Ted Turner, Dusty Rhodes, Mr. McMahon, the RAW General Manager revealed, etc. I’m happy that I don’t know who it is and will enjoy watching Monday Night Raw that much more to find out.

Brock Lesnar Hosting The Ultimate Fighter: “Brock Lesnar is reportedly doing an excellent job in his role as a coach for TUF that begins airing on Spike in a few weeks. This will lead into to the Lesnar-Junior Dos Santos fight later this year which will greatly enhance the UFC PPV headlined by these two heavyweights. Yes, ‘business is picking up’ for these two, talented heavyweights who are both looking for a title opportunity. Sources say Lesnar and his family and complete training camp are living in a luxury home in Vegas while TUF is being taped. This is a magnificent marketing opportunity for Brock’s upcoming book written with Paul Heyman not to mention Lesnar’s merch line ‘Death Clutch.’ In all due respect, I’d rather winter a few weeks in Vegas as opposed to Northern Minnesota but that’s must me.”

Green Bay Packers At SmackDown: “I hear that many of the Packers made quite the impact at the Smackdown TV taping in Green Bay Tuesday might. Star linebacker Clay Mathews has been tweeting about it. Congrats to all the Packer fans from a Steeler fan who freely admits that the better team won on Sunday in Arlington.”

• * VIDEO: Packers Star Clay Matthews Gets Physical At SmackDown!