ONE Championship recorded massive losses for the year 2021 but its owners say profits are only three years away.
ONE Championship is one of the few major promotions in the world to have the same global platform as the UFC. While even this statement is a bit of a stretch, the primarily Asian fighting promotion has been a force to recognize in global MMA.
In recent years, however, the promotion has faced some tough times. As per the Singapore Accounting and Corporate Authority (ACRA) ONE Championship’s losses rose to $111 million. This is a jump of 125% from the previous year.
Record year for Group One Holdings last year. S$110m in losses. pic.twitter.com/ageHkzdGSG
— John S. Nash (@heynottheface) September 30, 2022
Simultaneously, its net cash flow losses went from $38 million in 2020 to $63 million 9n 2021. This is a rise of 62% and stands in contrast to the promotion’s revenue from event ticketing, live broadcast, sponsorship digital platforms and merchandize. This grew from 19% to $67.7 million up from $56.8 million in 2020.
Another crucial point of note is that the majority of the $67.7 million in revenue it earned was from the transfer of goods or services. These amount to over 97% of its revenue or $66.2 million.
Profits in 3 Years?
Despite these highly concerning losses and widening margins, ONE championship owners have said that they expect to see profits in 3 years. Their projections state that they will hit $80 million in revenue next year and start being profitable in three years after that.
These projections were confirmed by ONE’s CFO Hua Feng Teh who also went on to call the company’s model “inherently profitable” and added that its “revenue will grow very quickly”.
2020 was an anomaly year due to the restrictions imposed upon us by the global pandemic as we were unable to host any live events for several months. In 2021, all the restrictions were eased, we were able to resume investment in our core product of live events.
We’ve gone from strength to strength in 2022 with multiple partnerships launched across the world that will have a significant impact on our future revenue and profitability as we continue to grow our brand globally,” wrote ONE Championship spokesperson in their statement to DealStreetAsia.
ONE boasts of a highly motivated set of primary investors including Sequoia Capital India, Sequoia Capital’s US growth fund, Vulcan Capital and Heliconia Capital.
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