Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc.

Good afternoon. Thank you for attending the Endeavor Group Holding Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Matt, and I'll be your moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call for an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. I will now let the pass the conference over to our host, James Marsh. James, please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Endeavor's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. A short while ago, we issued a press release which you can view on our investor relations site, investor.endeavorco.com. A recording of this call will also be available via that site for at least 30 days. Today, you will hear from Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and CFO Jason Lublin before President and CEO Mark Shapiro joins us for Q&A. The purpose of this call is to provide you with information regarding our second quarter 2023 performance in addition to our financial outlook for the balance of the year. I do want to remind everyone that the information discussed will include forward-looking statements and or projections that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, as well as described in the risk factors section of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our 10Qs and 10K. If these risks or uncertainties ever materialize or any assumptions prove incorrect, our results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements and projections. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them publicly in light of new information or future events, except as legally required. Our commentary today will also include non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends. This measure should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics for all of our reported results can be found in our press release issue today, as well as in the non-GAAP financial information posted in our IR website. With that, I'll turn it over to our CEO, Ari Emanuel.

Thanks, James, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered solid results in the second quarter, reflecting ongoing demand for premium content and live events. Before I share highlights from our four segments, I'd like to note two deals in particular. First, we closed our sale of IMG Academy at an enterprise value of $1.25 billion. As previously announced, we will now commence our share repurchase and dividend payment initiatives in the third quarter. Second, having completed antitrust reviews for our proposed combination of UFC and WWE, we are closing in on the launch of TKO Group Holdings, which we currently expect in mid to late September. As we have discussed, exposure to TKO via our 51% controlling ownership offers compelling upside for Endeavor. Planning is underway to begin maximizing revenue and cost synergies immediately upon closing, and I'm bullish on the TKO outlook and the progress of the WWE media renewal discussions. We will give further clarity on those initiatives in due course. Now, turning to highlights within our segments. In owned sports properties, UFC 287 in Miami drew 19,000 fans and generated ticket sales of $11.9 million, making it the highest grossing event ever at the Kaseya Center and sixth highest in UFC history. We're also excited about UFC's upcoming return to Sydney, Australia after securing a four-year, $16 million Australian dollar investment from the New South Wales government to host multiple events, inclusive of site fees. The first of those events, UFC 293, will take place this September, just ahead of our new multi-year agreement that will make Foxtel Group the exclusive distributor of all UFC pay-per-views in Australia beginning in 2024. Within our events, experiences, and rights segment, our owned events got off to a strong start in the second quarter. Of note, the Madrid Open Tennis Tournament, now in its second year as part of Endeavor, set a new attendance record with more than 325,000 fans across 12 days. Our Taste of London Food Festival similarly set an attendance record attracting more than 56,000 guests across five days. At on location, we're seeing strong demand for upcoming live events. Tickets have already sold out for the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Notre Dame and Navy, which is expected to draw nearly 40,000 fans from the U.S. to Ireland. Reportedly, This event is projected to set a world record for the largest number of Americans traveling internationally for a single sporting event. Additionally, on location's early ticket and suite sales for Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas are off to a record start. And with exactly one year to go to Paris 2024, we're optimistic about the anticipation and demand we're seeing in the lead up to the games. At IMG Media, we wrapped another successful Premier League season producing live coverage and distributing content to millions of international fans in more than 180 countries. Also, IMG Media was chosen to produce the BBC's highly anticipated coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup, which is now underway in Australia and New Zealand. IMG is managing the incoming live match feed, studio presentation and highlight programming for the BBC's 33 fixtures throughout the tournament. Within our sports data and technology segment, IMG Arena secured worldwide data and streaming rights for the National Women's Soccer League. And at OpenBet, following the successful launch of their online sportsbook partnership with OPAP, Greece's leading gaming company, OpenBet will soon be expanding into their retail network of more than 4,000 shops and 20,000 terminals. This significant development demonstrates our focus on pursuing durable growth within the sport betting ecosystem and capitalizing on opportunities in newly emerging sports betting markets globally. Finally, within our representation segment, despite the beginning of the WGA strike within the quarter, WME verticals outside of film and television performed well. Broadway is coming back strong, comedy tours are selling out, and we're having our best year for music touring. In country music in particular, more than 100 WME clients participated in nearly 200 performance slots throughout CMA Fest Week in June. Also in the quarter, WME celebrated many awards and nominations for clients, including at the Tony Awards, where the creative team behind Kimberly Akimbo took home five awards, including Best Musical, making it the seventh musical from WME talent to win in this category over the last 10 years. More recently, more than 110 WME clients were involved in Emmy-nominated projects, including a combined 40 nominations for Succession and The Bear. And as a sign of continued momentum for WME sports, we had five first round and three lottery picks in the NBA draft, the most of any agency, and represent the world's number one tennis players, Iga Sviantek, who won at Roland Garros, and Carlos Alcaraz, who took home his first Wimbledon title last month. WME also recently completed several tuck-in acquisitions that deepened and broadened our representation capabilities within several growing categories. In music, WME acquired Red 11 to further scale its position in country music and touring, and in books, WME acquired Washington, D.C.-based literary agency Ross Youn, expanding our literary and commercial nonfiction offering. As just one example of the opportunity this presents, Ross Yoon represents Kai Bird, author of the book American Prometheus, which inspired the hugely successful film Oppenheimer that was written, directed, and produced by our client, Christopher Nolan, and features clients including Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., and Kenneth Branagh. These acquisitions, along with our capabilities and expertise across the Endeavor flywheel, further enhance our ability to build holistic businesses around our WME clients. Before I turn the call over to Jason, I'd like to close with some thoughts on the strikes. I've been through many strikes over my more than 35 years of representing actors, writers, and creatives of all types whose livelihoods depend upon the entertainment economy. Time and again, our industry has navigated change and now is no exception as we adjust to new distribution models and technologies. There are real issues to work through and we continue to stand with our clients advocate on their behalf, and push for a resolution that protects their creative and commercial interests. With that, I'll now turn things over to Jason to walk you through the quarter in detail.