Last week, World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon got body-slammed financially -- to the tune of $350 million.
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Forbes reports that McMahon lost the sum of $350 million in the course of 24 hours, an amount that equates to roughly one-third of the WWE CEO's fortune.
According to the report, the loss in revenue has to do with a few different factors, including the disappointing number of subscribers that the WWE Network has drawn and the somewhat lackluster new television deal that the company worked out with NBCUniversal this past week.
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The new online streaming WWE Network, which is similar to Netflix by offering live streaming of past events as well as every pay-per-view until WrestleMania 31 for $9.99 per month along with unique new programming, was expected to garner 1 million subscriptions, but currently sits at around 700,000 since launching in late February.
The WWE expects to lose $45 to $52 million this year over the lack of subscriptions, as the company projected 1 million subscribers as the "break-even" number it needed for the network to be a success.
The television deal the company struck with NBCUniversal is large, but according to Forbes it's not as big as some expected it to be. The WWE inked a deal with NBCUniversal to retain its flagship Monday Night RAW and SmackDown television shows for the sum of $150 million annually, which is half or one-third of what many originally expected the company to earn.
The combined reports of lagging network subscriptions and a less-than-expected television deal led the company's stock to drop $8.66 from $20.13 to $11.27.
As a result, it was a huge loss and setback for McMahon, whose net worth peaked in March at $1.6 billion, per Forbes.
"Shares dropped 29% the week after WWE announced its new online streaming network had only 667,000 subscribers, taking a $325 million chunk out of McMahon's fortune," Forbes reported.
The stock falling then knocked out another $350 million, nearly a third of McMahon's fortune as it plummeted to an estimated $750 million.
McMahon is the king of the wrestling world, but royalty has taken a hit over the last week.
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