Nick Khan Believes WWE’s Peacock Deal Is Now Undervalued

WWE’s streaming deal with Peacock is in the third year of a five year deal, and Nick Khan believes that it’s undervalued at this point. The WWE CEO spoke at MoffettNathanson’s Inaugural Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference on Thursday and said that he believes the deal is now undervalued, even though at the time it was great for them.

“I think with that deal, which was done in March of 2021, that deal is probably the most under-market deal, in my opinion, in the entire media business right now,” Khan said (courtesy of Wrestling Inc). “We did it and we were thrilled with it when it happened. We’re still thrilled with the partnership, but if you look at the dollars, Wall Street Journal announced over a billion dollars, around a billion dollars over the life of the deal, [it’s] way undervalued at this moment in time. Obviously, we have a contract. We’ll see what happens.”

Khan noted that the deal began when Peacock had just launched and that the deal was a big step up for WWE in viewership, and has continued to rise for each year and each event. He added that WWE has nearly doubled its audience since the deal launched.

The deal is set to last until 2026. WWE is in the midst of a deal for Endeavor to acquire it, and renegotiations for media rights have begun with their current partners. Khan said on the Q1 2023 earnings call that the window for exclusive negotiations with their current partners (NBCUniversal and Fox) will last about a month.