WWE and UFC could soon be owned by the same parent company. World Wrestling Entertainment is reportedly in talks to be sold to Endeavor Group, which owns UFC, sources told CNBC on Sunday. The deal could be announced as soon as Monday and comes while WWE is hosting its main live event, WrestleMania, this weekend.
UFC and WWE would merge into a new publicly-traded company under the deal, the sources said. Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor will own 51% of the new company, with shareholders owning the remaining 49%. The massive deal puts WWE’s enterprise value at $9.3 billion, the sources said.
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Emanuel will serve as the chief executive officer for Endeavor and the new WWE-UFC company. Vince McMahon will stayย on as executive chairman. Endeavor President Mark Shapiro will become president of the new company, while Dana White will continue overseeing UFC as president. WWE CEO Nick Khan will be president of the WWE division of the new company.
There has been speculation that WWE was looking for a buyer for months. McMahon, who retired from the company in July 2022 after claims he paid millions of dollars to cover up alleged affairsย with WWE employees, returned to WWE in January 2023 to oversee the sale. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, and Khan replaced McMahon as co-CEOs, while Stephanie’s husband, the wrestler Triple H, took over creative control. Stephanie left the company after her father returned, leaving Khan as the sole CEO. “My return will allow WWE, as well as any transaction counterparties, to engage in these processes knowing they will have the support of the controlling shareholder,” McMahon said in January.
The sale could end the days of WWE as a family business. The promotion was founded by McMahon’s father, Vincent J. McMahon, as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. McMahon bought the company from his father in 1982 and remains a controlling shareholder. WWE is by far the most popular wrestling promotion in the country and has produced countless global wrestling superstars. Several stars have gone on to Hollywood stardom, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dave Bautista, and John Cena. Last year, WWE generated $1.29 billion in revenue.
UFC is one of the top mixed martial arts promotions. It was founded in 1993 and White has been president since 2001. The league powered Endeavor sports businesses to $1.3 billion in revenue last year. The Endevour-WWE deal values UFC at $12 billion.
