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TKO, TKO Group Holdings Inc.
TKO is a premium sports and entertainment company.
TKO also services and partners with major sports rights holders through IMG, an industry-leading global sports marketing agency; and On Location, a global leader in premium experiential hospitality.
We significantly expanded our portfolio on February 28, 2025, when we completed the Endeavor Asset Acquisition, pursuant to which we acquired the IMG business, including certain businesses operating under the IMG brand, On Location, and PBR (collectively, the "Acquired Businesses") from EGH and its subsidiaries.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Next report By 11/8 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~37 days after · the wire records it on arrival
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What it is
- Revenue is led by WWE (36%) and UFC (32%), with 2 more segments behind.
- What moves the needle
- Operating margin has run about 18% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. The operating margin has swung widely — from 0.6% to 48% over the years — so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year, and the worst year more than the best. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
Where the money comes from
read the 10-K →Revenue spreads across 5 segments, the largest WWE at 36%.
- WWE36%$1.7B
- UFC32%$1.5B
- IMG29%$1.4B
- Corporate and Other4%$199M
- Eliminations-1%($43M)
From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2021–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMJun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||
| $1.0B | $1.1B | $3.2B | $4.9B | $4.7B | $5.3B | RevenueRevenue |
| 23% | 18% | 32% | 36% | 32% | 31% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| $391M | $544M | $376M | $31M | $835M | $998M | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 37.9% | 47.7% | 11.7% | 0.6% | 17.6% | 18.8% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $289M | $404M | $167M | ($210M) | $607M | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| $274M | $389M | ($35M) | $9M | $195M | $230M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 5% | 4% | 20% | — | 12% | 29% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | ||||||
| $441M | $502M | $266M | $586M | $1.3B | $1.8B | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $63M | $60M | $224M | $458M | $485M | $527M | Depreciation & amortizationD&A |
| $41M | $29M | $13M | $15M | $488M | $904M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| — | — | $100M | $165M | $867M | — | BuybacksBuybacks |
| ($11M) | ($13M) | ($36M) | ($117M) | ($147M) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| $163M | ($1.2B) | ($174M) | ($155M) | ($636M) | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| $227K | ($1M) | ($235K) | ($8M) | $5M | — | Exchange-rate effectFX |
| $592M | ($694M) | $56M | $306M | $508M | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| 22% | 68% | -1% | 0% | 5% | 7% | Return on equityROE |
| Balance sheet | ||||||
| $875M | $181M | $236M | $620M | $831M | $592M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | $45M | $135M | $423M | $558M | $1.1B | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| — | $17M | $42M | $246M | $195M | $283M | Accounts payablePayables |
| — | $29M | $93M | $177M | $363M | $777M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| — | $268M | $492M | $1.5B | $2.3B | $3.2B | Current assetsCur. assets |
| — | $230M | $472M | $1.4B | $1.8B | $2.5B | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| — | 1.2× | 1.0× | 1.1× | 1.3× | 1.3× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| — | $175M | $608M | $630M | $640M | — | Net PP&ENet PP&E |
| — | $2.6B | $8.4B | $8.4B | $8.4B | $8.4B | GoodwillGoodwill |
| — | $3.6B | $12.7B | $15.1B | $15.5B | $16.3B | Total assetsAssets |
| — | $2.8B | $2.7B | $2.8B | $3.8B | $4.6B | Total debtDebt |
| — | $2.6B | $2.5B | $2.1B | $2.9B | $4.0B | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 3.8× | 3.9× | 1.6× | 0.1× | 4.1× | 4.1× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| — | $3.0B | $3.8B | $5.0B | $6.2B | — | Total liabilitiesTotal liab. |
| $10M | $10M | $12M | $22M | $34M | — | Redeemable interestsRedeemable |
| $1.2B | $569M | $4.1B | $4.1B | $3.7B | $3.4B | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 6.2% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 2.5% | 2.5% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | ||||||
| — | — | 166M | 172M | 194M | 193M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| — | — | $19.47 | $28.42 | $24.41 | $27.42 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| — | — | $-0.21 | $0.05 | $1.01 | $1.19 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| — | — | $24.81 | $23.80 | $19.26 | $17.57 | Book value / shareBVPS |
Share counts before 2024 are restated ×2 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.
| 4-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +12.0%/yr (2-yr) | +12.0%/yr (2-yr) |
| Book value / share | −11.9%/yr (2-yr) | −11.9%/yr (2-yr) |
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedEach year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
Will it survive?
- AdequateOperating income $835M ÷ interest expense $203M
What this means
Comfortable in a normal year, but below the margin of safety Graham looked for. Worth checking how stable the coverage has been across a full cycle.
- How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $2.9B · 3.5× operating profitMeaningful net debtCash $831M − debt $3.8B
What this means
Netting $831M of cash and short-term investments against $3.8B of debt leaves $2.9B owed, about 3.5× a year's operating profit (4.5× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median 2%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median 4%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Cash-backedCash from ops $1.3B ÷ net income $195M
What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.
How is the cash used?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? —Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
The promise and the pay packet
- Is the buyback buying ownership, or mopping up? 2.5%Stock pay, share count unreadStock compensation $118M (fiscal 2025), 2.5% of revenue · repurchases $867M · the share count is not comparable across these years (a split or a first listing sits in the record), so the drift is withheld
What this means
Stock handed to employees is a real cost paid in the owner's own currency: it is charged against profit, but the shares it creates are permanent. Many companies repurchase stock at the same time, which looks like a return of capital and often is not — if the count barely moves, the cash merely cancelled the pay packet and bought the owner nothing. The three states worth telling apart are a count genuinely shrinking, a count standing still despite large repurchases, and a count rising because the issuance was never offset at all.
Graham’s defensive tests · 1 of 5 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size PassRevenue ≥ $2B · $4.7B
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity MissCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 1.26×
What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
- Conservative debt MissDebt ≤ working capital · $3.8B vs $482M WC
What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
- Earnings stability NearA profit every year (5-yr record) · 1 loss year
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted dividends · 1 of 5 yrs
What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $0.74/share (latest year $2.57), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $49.14/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2021–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 4 of 5
What this means
Lost money in 1 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 1 of 4 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin 43% → 9% (2-yr avg ends)
In the filing’s words Input costs rose and the filing says it could not fully pass them on — which is where this margin compressed.
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 43% early to 9% lately, median 18% — competition or costs are biting in.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital
What this means
The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.
- Worst year 2024 · 0.6% op. margin
What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
- Dividend record paid
What this means
Paid a dividend in 1 of the years on record.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.
- Cash & short-term investments$592M
- Receivables$1.1B
- Other current assets$1.6B
- Debt due within a year$46M
- Accounts payable$283M
- Other current liabilities$2.2B
From the company's latest filing.
Acquisitions & goodwill
from the balance sheet & the 5-year cash-flow recordGoodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.
$8M written down across 1 year (2023): goodwill the company has already conceded it overpaid for, charged against earnings. That is roughly 86% of the cash it put into acquisitions over the span. A write-down costs no cash (the cash went out when the deal was signed), but it is management marking its own past judgment to market.
Beside that spending sits $976M of cumulative amortization of acquired intangibles charged against earnings since fiscal 2021 — the purchase price of past deals, expensed over time. The cash figure above counts only cash consideration: goodwill of $8.4B against it says much of the buying was paid for in stock, which never passes through the cash-flow statement.
Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and amortization summed across the company's full tagged history, write-downs across the 5-year record, from the company's own filings.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.
| Fiscal year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Ariel Emanuel | $64.9M | $57.0M | ($35M) |
| 2024 | Ariel Emanuel | $18.1M | $41.0M | $9M |
| 2025 | Ariel Emanuel | $67.4M | $102.0M | $195M |
Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Net income is the whole business's, as filed, for the same fiscal years.
- Stock-based compensation$118M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 2.5% of revenue, equal to 14.1% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Revenue recognition as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →
The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.
Peers, Entertainment & Studios
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over, and a median resting on fewer than three years carries that count beside it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.
| Company | Revenuelatest FY, USD | Gross marginmedian over the record | Op. marginmedian over the record | ROICmedian over the record | Owner earn. marginmedian over the record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LYVLive Nation | $25.2B | — | 2.7% | 8% | 4% |
| WMGWarner Music | $6.7B | 47% | 9.2% | 13% | 9% |
| AMCAMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. | $4.8B | 66%1y | -1.0% | -3% | -7% |
| TKOTKO Group Holdings Inc. | $4.7B | — | 17.6% | 8%2y | — |
| FUNCedar Fair | $3.1B | 91% | 14.2% | 2% | 6% |
| SPHRSphere Entertainment Co. | $1.2B | — | -21.3% | -6% | 3% |
| LUCKLucky Strike Entertainment Corporation | $1.2B | 30% | 11.4% | 8% | 4% |
| BATRAAtlanta Braves Holdings Inc. Series A | $732M | — | -5.6% | -3% | -10% |
| Group median | — | — | 5.9% | 5% | — |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFTKO Group Holdings Inc. is profitable, but its owner-earnings base could not be formed from this filing’s tagged data (operating cash flow or capital spending is missing), so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.
Revenue, delivered57%/yr’21→’25
Enter a price to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Manual order: ← TJX its page in the Manual TKR →
Industry order: ← STRZ the Entertainment & Studios chapter WMG →