WWE Nears Sale to UFC’s Endeavor Group
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. is nearing a deal to be sold to
Endeavor Group
EDR 3.37%
Holdings Inc., which owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to people familiar with the matter.
As part of the deal, Endeavor’s UFC business and
WWE
WWE 0.73%
will form a separate publicly traded entity, the people said, in which Endeavor shareholders would hold 51% and WWE shareholders would retain 49%.
The deal, which CNBC reported earlier, is expected to be announced Monday, the people added.
Vince McMahon,
the majority owner and former chief executive of WWE who retired last year amid a misconduct probe, returned to the company in January to pursue a sale, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
In a series of articles last year, the Journal revealed that Mr. McMahon had for decades paid to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct. The revelations and the findings of a WWE board investigation led to his brief retirement after 40 years.
The Journal reported that Mr. McMahon had entered into secret settlements with women totaling more than $12 million from 2005 to 2022. The Journal reported in January that he had also entered into a multimillion-dollar settlement with a former wrestling referee who accused him of rape.
Mr. McMahon denied the rape allegation. He and WWE have declined to discuss the other settlements. They said they cooperated with the board inquiry. The settlements helped maintain a culture of secrecy in the professional-wrestling community that Mr. McMahon enforced through his clout to make or break wrestling careers.
Mr. McMahon repaid WWE $17.4 million to cover costs related to a sexual-misconduct probe, the company disclosed in a securities filing last month.
The Journal revelations triggered pending criminal and civil investigations into the activities by Mr. McMahon.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon will be executive chairman of the new company.
Photo:
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Days after Mr. McMahon’s return to WWE this year, the company’s board of directors unanimously elected Mr. McMahon as executive chairman. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, also resigned as chairwoman and co-CEO, leaving
Nick Khan,
who had been the other co-CEO, as the sole chief executive.
The Endeavor deal gives WWE an enterprise value of $9.3 billion, and UFC an enterprise value of $12.1 billion, the people said.
Ari Emanuel,
chief executive officer of Endeavor, is set to serve as CEO of the new public company in addition to his current role, the people said. Mr. McMahon will be executive chairman of the new company, they said.
WWE, which generates most of its revenue from selling content rights, posted its first year of over $1 billion in revenue in 2021. Its shares have rallied about 33% year to date, bringing its market capitalization to $6.8 billion as of Friday. Endeavor shares are up about 6% over the same period, bringing its market value to $10.5 billion.
WWE content plays a pivotal role for
Fox Corp.’s
Fox Broadcasting network and NBCUniversal’s USA Network cable channel and its Peacock streaming service. In 2021, Peacock struck a five-year deal valued at $1 billion with WWE to be its streaming home.
The WWE’s deals with Fox and USA are due to expire next year.
Walt Disney Co.
’s ESPN carries UFC content under a five-year deal that the Journal previously reported was valued at $1.5 billion. ESPN also offers UFC events via pay-per-view.
Write to Lauren Thomas at [email protected] and Joe Flint at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the April 3, 2023, print edition as ‘WWE Nears Sale To UFC’s Endeavor.’
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. is nearing a deal to be sold to
Endeavor Group
EDR 3.37%
Holdings Inc., which owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to people familiar with the matter.
As part of the deal, Endeavor’s UFC business and
WWE
WWE 0.73%
will form a separate publicly traded entity, the people said, in which Endeavor shareholders would hold 51% and WWE shareholders would retain 49%.
The deal, which CNBC reported earlier, is expected to be announced Monday, the people added.
Vince McMahon,
the majority owner and former chief executive of WWE who retired last year amid a misconduct probe, returned to the company in January to pursue a sale, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
In a series of articles last year, the Journal revealed that Mr. McMahon had for decades paid to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct. The revelations and the findings of a WWE board investigation led to his brief retirement after 40 years.
The Journal reported that Mr. McMahon had entered into secret settlements with women totaling more than $12 million from 2005 to 2022. The Journal reported in January that he had also entered into a multimillion-dollar settlement with a former wrestling referee who accused him of rape.
Mr. McMahon denied the rape allegation. He and WWE have declined to discuss the other settlements. They said they cooperated with the board inquiry. The settlements helped maintain a culture of secrecy in the professional-wrestling community that Mr. McMahon enforced through his clout to make or break wrestling careers.
Mr. McMahon repaid WWE $17.4 million to cover costs related to a sexual-misconduct probe, the company disclosed in a securities filing last month.
The Journal revelations triggered pending criminal and civil investigations into the activities by Mr. McMahon.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon will be executive chairman of the new company.
Photo:
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Days after Mr. McMahon’s return to WWE this year, the company’s board of directors unanimously elected Mr. McMahon as executive chairman. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, also resigned as chairwoman and co-CEO, leaving
Nick Khan,
who had been the other co-CEO, as the sole chief executive.
The Endeavor deal gives WWE an enterprise value of $9.3 billion, and UFC an enterprise value of $12.1 billion, the people said.
Ari Emanuel,
chief executive officer of Endeavor, is set to serve as CEO of the new public company in addition to his current role, the people said. Mr. McMahon will be executive chairman of the new company, they said.
WWE, which generates most of its revenue from selling content rights, posted its first year of over $1 billion in revenue in 2021. Its shares have rallied about 33% year to date, bringing its market capitalization to $6.8 billion as of Friday. Endeavor shares are up about 6% over the same period, bringing its market value to $10.5 billion.
WWE content plays a pivotal role for
Fox Corp.’s
Fox Broadcasting network and NBCUniversal’s USA Network cable channel and its Peacock streaming service. In 2021, Peacock struck a five-year deal valued at $1 billion with WWE to be its streaming home.
The WWE’s deals with Fox and USA are due to expire next year.
Walt Disney Co.
’s ESPN carries UFC content under a five-year deal that the Journal previously reported was valued at $1.5 billion. ESPN also offers UFC events via pay-per-view.
Write to Lauren Thomas at [email protected] and Joe Flint at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the April 3, 2023, print edition as ‘WWE Nears Sale To UFC’s Endeavor.’
Denial of responsibility! Techno Blender is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.