UFC Parent Company Purchases WWE
WWE has been purchased by Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion UFC.
WWE and UFC will now merge to form a new publicly traded company controlled by Endeavor.
The news, first reported by CNBC over the weekend, was officially announced on Monday, April 3, following WWE’s flagship Wrestlemania pay-per-view event. According to the CNBC report, the company has been valued at $9.3 billion (£8.1 billion).
Emanuel will now be chief executive of both Endeavor and a new, publicly traded company that will run both WWE and UFC. WWE’s executive chairman Vince McMahon will stay on in that role, sharing duties with Mark Shapiro.
Nick Khan will stay as CEO of WWE and president of wrestling operations, with Dana White remaining as president of UFC.
In a statement, Emanuel said: “This is a rare opportunity to create a global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed.
“For decades, Vince and his team have demonstrated an incredible track record of innovation and shareholder value creation, and we are confident that Endeavor can deliver significant additional value for shareholders by bringing UFC and WWE together.”
McMahon added: “Given the incredible work that Ari and Endeavor have done to grow the UFC brand – nearly doubling its revenue over the past seven years – and the immense success we’ve already had in partnering with their team on a number of ventures, I believe that this is without a doubt the best outcome for our shareholders and other stakeholders.”
In July 2022, McMahon announced his retirement as Chairman and CEO of WWE. A month earlier he had announced he was stepping back from the position while a Special Committee of the WWE board conducted an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
Following McMahon’s retirement, his daughter Stephanie was named chairwoman and co-CEO alongside Khan. However, she resigned from both positions after her father returned to the company as Executive Chairman of the Board.
Last week, it was reported that McMahon had signed a two-year employment contract with WWE, giving him a base salary of $1.2 million a year.
WWE has been in the McMahon family since the founding of its precursor the Capitol Wrestling Corporation in 1953. Vince McMahon Sr formed the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) in 1963 from the CWC.
In 1979, it was renamed the WWF, and less than three years later it was bought from McMahon Sr by his son, who would begin expanding it into a worldwide wrestling promotion, outside the normal territory wrestling model.
In 1999, WWE became a publicly traded company, launching on the New York Stock Exchange.
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