Even More WWE News: Lohan, WM WWE Magazine, WWE Lawsuit, More

Posted by Ashish on 02.19.2008

More Tuesday news!

- TMZ has picked up the story of Lindsay Lohan being backstage at RAW last night.

- The March 2008 issue of WWE Magazine will feature four different WrestleMania-themed covers.

- Role Playing Game developer White Wolf is suing WWE over the use of the name "Gangrel." White Wolf uses the name in its game, Vampire: The Masquerade. In 1998, WWE signed a five year deal with White Wolf to use the name for the character played by David Heath. That deal expired in 2003 and WWE did not renew it. But in December of 2007, WWE used the Gangrel character at their 15th Anniversary RAW show. Hollywood Reporter's item on the story is up here.

- WWE sent out the following release today.

World Wrestling Entertainment® Announces Plan for 50% Dividend Increase for Class A Shareholders

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) announced today that, subject to the receipt of a favorable tax ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, it anticipates increasing its regular quarterly cash dividend on Class A common stock to $0.36 per share. The Class B holders would agree to waive this increase for three years and instead continue to receive the current $0.24 per share quarterly cash dividend. The new Class A dividend would represent an 8.6% yield based on our most recent closing stock price. The Class A common stock is held by the Company's public stockholders, and the Class B common stock is held by members of the McMahon family and their trusts.

A favorable tax ruling would permit the holders of the Class B common stock to waive the increase in dividends for a period of three years without adverse tax consequences to them. If the requested ruling is received by the Company prior to March 4, 2008, the Company could declare the increased dividend on its normal quarterly cycle, which would mean a record date of March 14, 2008 and a payment date of March 25, 2008. While the Company believes that it will receive the ruling, no assurance can be given in this regard. If the ruling is not received by March 4, 2008, the Board expects that the increase would be included in the June dividend, assuming receipt of a favorable ruling by then.

Commenting on this announcement, Vincent K. McMahon, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: "The plan for a dividend increase underscores our commitment to the Company's public shareholders. The decision was supported by WWE's strong financial performance and demonstrates our confidence in the Company's future. We believe that we can continue to pursue our long-term growth initiatives while at the same time providing a very generous dividend, which should keep us on the right path toward building value for our shareholders."

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Additional information on the company can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.