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For years now, ONE Championship has made a lot of boasts about being one of the biggest sports properties in the World, even as they burned through money without any signs of profitability being close at hand. But in recent years they have made noticeable efforts to cut costs, releasing staff, moving operations to Thailand and focusing more on Muay Thai than MMA. According to the company they are now approaching $200 million in revenue and profitability is close at hand. But their most recent financial statement for 2023 offers a sobering reality: a business burning through cash faster than it earns it, with no clear path to profitability in sight.
According to the company’s latest financial statements that were filed with the Singapore Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) , ONE Championship (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. posted a consolidated loss of $90.0 million USD for the year ending December 31, 2023. That figure represents a sharp increase from the $61.7 million it lost in 2022, despite a 25% bump in revenue—from $54.3 million to $68.0 million year over year.
The company’s cumulative losses now stand at over $530 million, with just $24.6 million in net assets remaining at the group level at the end of 2023. In simpler terms, more than half a billion dollars have been spent in pursuit of profitability—without arriving anywhere close.
It has been noted by ONE that “On 8 October 2024, the Company’s immediate holding company, Group One Holdings (Cayman) Limited, raised funding of US$50,500,000 in cash from both existing and new investors.”
It is unclear how much of this $75.1 million total remains.
Revenue Growth: Broadcast Booms While Sponsorship Slides
ONE Championship reported $68 million in total revenue in 2023, a solid year-over-year increase from $54.3 million. But a deeper dive into the numbers—and the accounting behind them—raises some critical questions about how much of this revenue is real, recurring, or even cash-based.
The largest contributor by far was broadcasting revenue, which exploded from $37.3 million in 2022 to $56.2 million in 2023—a 50% jump. In contrast, sponsorship income fell from $11.3 million to $8.3 million, and digital platform revenue dropped by over 35%, from $4.2 million to $2.7 million. Ticketing revenue nearly vanished, falling to just $144,000, while merchandise inched down slightly to $583,000.
But the headline growth in broadcasting revenue may be more cosmetic than cash.
A Significant Portion Is Non-Cash—And Highly Subjective
As ONE itself discloses in its audited financials, a “substantial” portion of its broadcasting revenue isn’t paid in money. Instead, the promotion receives non-cash consideration—mainly in the form of “promotional plugs” and marketing exposure on its broadcast partners' platforms. That means a large share of that $56.2 million never hit the company’s bank account.
To assign a dollar value to these in-kind promotional services, management estimates the fair value using rate cards and discount ranges provided by the broadcasters themselves—data that falls under Level 2 and Level 3 fair value accounting, depending on whether outside verification exists. In cases where no rate cards are available, management uses internal estimation models based on market benchmarks to guess the value.
These estimates feed directly into revenue—and are simultaneously recorded as marketing expenses, essentially creating a self-canceling loop of non-cash revenue and matched cost.
Put another way: ONE books revenue for the free airtime it receives from its broadcast partners, and then books an equivalent marketing expense on the other side of the ledger. The economic substance? Zero net gain—just inflated topline numbers.
Sponsorship: Similar Story, Different Inputs
Sponsorship revenue follows a similar playbook. While some sponsorships involve cash payments, a portion again comes in the form of non-cash consideration like event equipment or additional marketing support. Here too, ONE relies on rate cards from sponsors or market price quotes to estimate value—another Level 2 accounting assumption with a high level of managerial discretion.
As with broadcast revenue, the value of these non-cash items is booked as both revenue and cost of sales, meaning they don’t improve net income but do bulk up revenue and expenses simultaneously.
An Accounting Illusion?
This method of recognizing non-cash revenue is perfectly legal and in line with accounting standards, but it introduces significant uncertainty. Since much of this revenue exists only on paper, it’s difficult to evaluate whether ONE is truly growing its business—or just getting better at inflating its books through complex barter arrangements.
The fact that broadcast revenue has grown by nearly $19 million while sponsorship and ticketing revenues have fallen suggests that the promotion is increasingly reliant on in-kind deals rather than actual market demand. It also raises the question of how sustainable these revenue figures are, especially if broadcast partners change their terms or scale back their commitments.
Big Spending, Bigger Impairments
ONE’s 2023 revenue bump was largely offset by continued heavy spending. Marketing expenses ballooned to nearly $60 million, a 25% increase from the prior year. Administrative and other expenses followed closely, totaling $35.3 million.
But the single biggest red flag was a line item tucked into the “other expenses” column: $23.6 million in impairment losses on amounts due from related corporations. This dwarfs the $204,000 written down in 2022 and suggests serious doubt about the recoverability of intercompany loans or receivables—possibly a sign of financial distress or poorly performing affiliate entities.
That staggering impairment helped push ONE’s pre-tax losses from continuing operations to $79.8 million, with another $10.2 million in losses attributed to discontinued operations.
Check out the entire filing below
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