A major WWE bomb just dropped on the weekend of WrestleMania. Alex Sherman of CNBC reports Vince McMahon's wrestling company “is in advanced talks to be sold to Ari Emanuel's Endeavor Group.” The Endeavor Group is UFC's parent company, with WWE and UFC set to form a new publicly traded company as part of this sale.
This reported deal could become official on Monday. Sherman has details on just what the setup and leadership of this new company will look like, saying Emanuel will be CEO of Endeavor and the new WWE-UFC company. McMahon will be executive chairman, while Dana White will remain president of UFC. Endeavor President Mark Shapiro will hold that same role with the new company. WWE CEO Nick Khan is set to be president of the wrestling business for the new company.
Overall, Endeavor is set to own 51% of the company, with WWE shareholders getting 49%. WWE is getting an “enterprise value” of $9.3 billion with this sale.
This big move will come just months after McMahon returned to the company to oversee a sale. McMahon left last summer amid a hush money scandal, with his daughter Stephanie taking over as co-CEO alongside Khan. Triple H took over as head of creative. When Vince returned in January, Stephanie stepped down from her role, leaving Khan in place as CEO.
Vince McMahon initially bought WWE from his father back in 1982. His father initially founded the company as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation in 1953, and it has gone through several iterations over the years before becoming the behemoth it is today. WWE is now set for a new chapter.
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