The company that I researched for this paper is the World Wrestling Federation
Entertainment. The company was organized and founded in the early 1940's by Vincent
McMahon Sr. The current owner and CEO is McMachon's son, Vincent Kennedy McMahon
Jr. The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is headquarters in the Titan Tower, in Stamford
Connecticut. The WWF specializes in the area of Pro Wrestling, which are "scripted fights"
in which highly trained athletes simulate a fighting experience. The "sport" of Pro Wrestling
has been around since the middle of the 19th century. In early times the "fighting" was real
(in fact Abe Lincoln was an early wrestling champion) but the fighting turned "fake" in the
early 1990's. The performers in Pro Wrestling are regarded as independent contractors who
sign with an individual company to perform exclusively with that company. There are
currently no unions, benefits, or retirement plans for any of the wrestling performers, a
controversial topic in the industry. This practice may change in the future. Today, Pro
Wrestling is a billion dollar business with its "performers" recognized throughout the
The are a wide variety of products and services offered by the WWF. The main service
offered by the company is entertainment by way of television programming. The WWF
produces a number of television shows throughout the United States and abroad, and have
had a tremendous amount of success. Many of their recent successes have been:
- announced approximately a 230% increase for television advertising
gross sales for calendar fourth quarter at $33 million compared to $10 million
in calendar fourth quarter 1998 (wwf.com)
-The success of their flag ship program, RAW IS WAR, on the USA Cable
Network. Which is currently averaging around a 7.0 market share on Monday ...