WWE News: WWE's definition of competition, employee count

The following information was included in WWE's 2012 Annual Report.

-WWE had approximately 721 employees as of February 2013. The number includes the "superstars" and it was noted that they are classified as independent contractors.

-WWE wrote the following regarding competition: "While we believe that we have a loyal fan base, the entertainment industry is highly competitive and subject to fluctuations in popularity, which are not easy to predict. For our live, television, pay-per-view and movie audiences, we face competition from professional and college sports as well as from other forms of live, filmed and televised entertainment and other leisure activities.

"We compete with entertainment companies, professional and college sports leagues and other makers of branded apparel and merchandise for the sale of our branded merchandise. As we continue to expand into the highly competitive digital media market we face increased competition from websites offering paid and free web-based and wireless content. Many companies with whom we compete have greater financial resources than we do."

Powell's POV: The employee count will grow if WWE moves forward with their network plans. Speaking of which, there were a few generic mentions of the network in the report. It was listed as a "potential WWE Network" and no launch date or specific platform was listed. The annual shareholders meeting was held on Friday, but WWE has yet to post the video as they normally do of said event.