Hulk Hogan incident has cost WWE $50 million
Hulk Hogan’s firing has obvious individual consequences, but it’s also a huge financial blow for WWE.
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Hulk Hogan is no longer involved with WWE. That includes his firing from his current role with the company, the pulling of his merchandise, and the company doing everything in their power to cut even the most remote ties to the former megastar. This all comes after racist remarks from Hogan were released on Friday morning.
Obviously this controversy is going to cost Hogan a great deal of money personally. He’s losing his most reliable source of revenue and losing a ton of future earning potential as a WWE legend. However, Hogan’s pockets aren’t the only ones that are going to be emptier as a result of this.
As reported by Forbes in the wake of the incident, WWE shareholders saw shares of the company plunge to the tune of a $50 million loss. After the news of WWE firing Hogan, shares dropped 4% on Friday. While the overall market dropped slightly as well, WWE’s shares plummeted substantially harder as shares fell to $16.60. Things also got even worse in after hours trading as the shares dropped another 60 cents on Friday evening.
For many wrestling fans, it may seem a bit curious how the firing of a non-competing employee—even one with the pedigree of Hogan—and judge for a reality show would so greatly affect the stock of the company. However, Hogan’s impact on the company goes far beyond his sporadic appearances on WWE programming.
Aside from maybe The Rock, there’s no more recognizable figure in the history of the WWE than Hogan, be it in just wrestling or popular culture. His decades in the business made him an icon and WWE was wise enough to capitalize on that.
Hogan was one of the chief ambassadors for the company and was a part of numerous promotional opportunities. Particularly with the WWE Network becoming such a substantial piece of the company with the ability to watch older programs in the company, Hogan was someone that could help push for new subscribers.
Now that Hogan is gone and the company has taken a major hit, it’ll be interesting to see how WWE tries to rebound financially. It wouldn’t be crazy to imagine Vince McMahon and company pushing hard to bring back other icons like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin more often to try and fill the void left by Hogan. Regardless, this story with Hogan continues to be bad news for everyone involved.